The Australian Solar Thermal Energy Market Needs A Big Push To Be Competitive With Fossil Fuels

SolarPACES reported that the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has published a response from energy industry stakeholders concerning the viability of a concentrated solar thermal (CST) energy market in the country. The report is titled “Paving The Way For Concentrated Solar Thermal In Australia”.

Here’s what we now know from the report:

• only 5 gigawatts of CST is deployed worldwide
• CST has proved to have effective cost reductions for such a new technology
• Australia needs energy that can reduce emissions and is reliable – CST could meet these requirements

The responses came from industry leaders worldwide. The report contains details outlining how CST can be a commercially usable form of renewable energy in the country within a decade.

The energy of the responses made it clear that any large scale competitive process to advance CST power generation in Australia would be well subscribed by a critical mass of startups and more experienced international companies.

Keith Lovegrove, AUSTELA director

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