On Monday 14 August South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill announced that Solar Reserve had won a 20 year electricity supply agreement with the South Australian government. The agreement is reported to account for 75% of the SA Governments electricity requirement.
The 150 MW solar thermal plant has been named Aurora and will be constructed just north of Port Augusta. The plant is a critical piece of infrastructure which will help mitigate volatile electricity prices in SA. The plant provides synchronous renewable energy that can be dispatched when there is no sunlight or wind available. According to Aurora the plant will have 8 hours of full load storage.
It is reported that the South Australian Government will be paying $78/MWh for electricity generated from the plant which is a competitive price for energy in South Australia. The project is being partially funded by a $110 million concessional equity loan from the Australian Federal Government. Construction of the plant is expected to begin in 2018 and be completed in 2020.
