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Australian Prime Minister tours Ausra powered solar energy facility as part of new $1.36 billion grid scale solar program announcement
Sydney, Australia – May 17, 2009 – Ausra Pty Ltd, the designer, manufacturer and developer of solar thermal technology for utility-scale solar power and steam applications, today commended the Rudd Government's visionary move to fund construction of four major solar power plants, the largest project of its kind currently in the world. www.environment.gov.au/minister/garrett/2009/budmr20090512i.html
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd today detailed the Government's $1.36 billion Solar Flagships program during a tour of the 2,000 megawatt Liddell coal/solar power augmentation station in the Hunter Valley, NSW, which uses Ausra's cost-competitive Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR) solar thermal technology. http://www.ausra.com.au/about/
The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts Peter Garrett, and the Minister for Defence and Member for Hunter Joel Fitzgibbon joined the Prime Minister on the tour of the Liddell solar facility.
Ausra Australia CEO Bob Matthews said today during the tour: "Australia will be a solar superpower when these plans are implemented. The Solar Flagships program will create an additional 1,000 megawatts of solar generation capacity—three times the size of the largest solar energy project currently operating anywhere in the world."
"We look forward to supporting the Rudd Government in advancing Australia's solar energy goals."
Liddell is operated by Australia's largest energy utility company Macquarie Generation and is the world’s first solar augmented coal fired power station or "booster" power energy facility. http://www.macgen.com.au/
Macquarie Generation is a leader in advancing new solar thermal technologies.
NSW Government owned Macquarie Generation used Ausra's technology for the the solar integration to demonstrate how solar can reduce carbon emissions at a coal-fired power station, and to show Ausra’s scalability. Ausra recently opened another solar thermal power facility in California, the first major solar thermal power plant to be built in California in nearly twenty years.
In April, Ausra announced a further US$25 million reinvestment from Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Kern Partners, Generation Investment Management and Starfish Ventures.
For hi-res photographs from today's event please contact 0400246010 or 0433322724 or email susan@datelinemedia.com
Images: www.ausramediaroom.com/images.php
B-roll: www.ausra.com/news/event_multimedia.html
How the Ausra technology works: www.ausramediaroom.com/howWorks.php
About Ausra
Ausra, Inc. and Ausra Pty Limited develop and deploy utility-scale solar thermal steam and power technology to serve global electricity needs in a dependable, market-competitive and environmentally responsible manner. Headquartered in California, Ausra is a privately held company funded by Khosla Ventures, Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, KERN Partners, Generation Investment Management and Starfish Ventures. To learn more about Ausra and solar thermal power in general, visit www.ausra.com and www.ausra.com.au
