Vast Solar Gets $65 Million Funding from ARENA for Australia’s Concentrated Solar Plant

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s (ARENA) has announced a funding of $65 million to renewable energy developer Vast Solar to help the firm deliver its VS1, the 30 MW/ 288 MWh concentrated solar plant in Port Augusta, South Australia. The funding is expected to create hundreds of jobs and be the catalyst for an Australian concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) industry.

VS1 is the first utility-scale CSP plant that will deploy the CSP technology of Vast Solar.  The technology generates clean, low-cost, dispatchable power by capturing and storing the sun’s energy during the day to be used to generate heat and power, including at night. The technology from Vast Solar employs mirrors to concentrate and capture heat from the sun in solar receivers.

Vast Solar said that the technology has received international awards for its modular design and pioneering use of sodium as the heat transfer fluid, providing higher efficiency and reliability.

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VS1 is also expected to help anchor green technology manufacturing activities of Vast Solar in Australia. It also has potential to create a billion-dollar CSP export industry besides creating dozens of green manufacturing jobs, hundreds of jobs during construction and long-term plant operations roles.

Vast Solar employs turbines in CSP similar to those found in coal and gas power plants to generate electricity. The project will provide opportunities for skilled workers displaced by the closure of fossil-fired power plants.

Vast Solar is currently working with state and federal governments in Australia, to identify the site of its first full-scale manufacturing facility, which will produce its Australian designed and made CSP technology.

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Previously, HyGATE provided A$19.48 million and EUR 13.2 million for Solar Methanol 1 (SM1), a Vast Solar-led project that will help to decarbonise hard-to-abate industries. HyGATE is a collaboration of the Australian and German Governments. SM1 will be a world-first green methanol reference plant, producing zero-emission fuel for aviation and shipping, and will co-located with VS1 in Port Augusta.

Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said, “The scale of the energy transformation underway is massive – it’s great to see an Australian company developing breakthrough technology to create jobs and clean, reliable and affordable power in the regions.”

ARENA CEO Darren Miller stated, “With the increasing need for dispatchable renewable generation and longer duration energy storage, CSP has potential to assist Australia’s energy transition alongside pumped hydro and large scale batteries.”

Craig Wood, CEO, Vast said, “The world-leading VS1 plant will have an important impact on the future of clean, dispatchable energy generation in Australia and around the world, allowing us to sustainably power electricity grids overnight and cutting-edge projects such as SM1.”

The largest CSP in the world is Noor Power Station in Morocco.