I see nothing concrete to justify getting hopes up.
If you read down the ABC article -
Even "...the chief executive officer of the Clean Energy Council, Kane Thornton, remains sceptical."
The ABC has no specifics about capacity of plant being considered - The article says - "A solar-thermal power station could cost $100 million to build "
How many MegaWatts of capacity could you expect for that in union riddled SA?
I suspect no replacement for the ~780MW coal fired of Alinta at Port Augusta.
And is there a site earmarked for this "solar-thermal power station" where all ownership issues have been settled?
I read where last September Alinta said it was not a goer.
“Following further investigation into a range of alternate plant configurations and costing assumptions, Alinta Energy can conclude that constructing a 50MW molten salt power-tower located in Port Augusta is not commercially feasible at this time”.
50MW just a pilot.
Once the coal fired is shut down the next test of how sensible that decision was will be the summers to come when demand peaks on Adelaide hot days. The SA Govt better hope that the summer winds blow well, the gas plants stand the strain and the Vic interconnectors behave themselves (unlike Basslink).
