Start up dreams of installing 1 GW PV system in Western Australia

A Perth, Australia-based start up says it wants to construct a 1 GW PV installation in Western Australia's desert, as well as set up silicon, wafer, cell, and module production.

Prime Solar Ltd. is seeking $60 million AUD ($42.2 million USD) in funding for constructing a pilot 10 MW installation near the shire of Perenjori, located 320 km northeast of Perth, by the end of 2006. Dilawar Singh, Prime Solar's managing director, says the idea for the installation is based on a report by the International Energy Agency's Photovoltaic Power Systems Program Task Force VIII (IEA PVPS Task VIII), which published a study in February on desert-based very large-scale PV installations around the world in 2003 (see PI 9/2003, p. 36).

Half of the funding for the pilot project would come from the Remote Renewable Power Generation Program (RRPGP), a federal scheme with 50 percent grants offered by the Australia Greenhouse Office (AGO) for replacing diesel generators. But Joe Wyder, AGO's RRPGP program director, is skeptical. »Most people don't expect them to be able to find the other half of the money,« he says. 

For more information, contact Singh at: info@primesolar.com

William P. Hirshman
© PHOTON International, October 2004