And they invent a solar tower which can brighten one lakh houses

Sydney, January 23: Australia has announced plans to construct the world’s largest single-tower solar thermal power plant in Port Augusta. California-based solar tech company Solar Reserve will be responsible for both the build and upkeep of the facility.

This technology is such that once built, arrays of heliostats will focus solar energy onto a central tower, which uses molten salt technology to store that energy as heat. These molten salts will provide 1,100 megawatts of energy storage capacity, which equates to eight hours of full load storage. This will allow the facility to generate electricity during the night as well as during the day when sunlight is shining down.

The Aurora Solar Energy Project is based on plans that were developed as part of the Rice Solar Energy Project in California, which stalled as a result of changes to tax credits related to renewable energy.

 

Aurora is projected to have an output of 150 megawatts and an ability to generate 495-gigawatt hours of electricity each year. The station will be able to service 90,000 homes and is expected to be able to cater to around five percent of South Australia’s total energy needs. Construction on the $650 million plant will begin next year, with the expectation that Aurora will be producing electricity by 2020.

That hasn’t slowed the adoption of renewable energy in other parts of the world, though. Morocco is currently building the world’s largest traditional solar plant, China’s massive floating solar power plant just went online, and India’s record-holding solar farm can power 150,000 homes.