The SolarReserve, a firm based in the US, has abandoned the AUD 650 million 150 MW Aurora concentrated solar thermal plant, Port Augusta, Autralia, billed as the world’s biggest, after having problems in securing finance for the project.
The company had until May 31, 2019 to get financial assistance for the project, after the extension on February 1, 2018. Not being able to secure financing, the company proposed to sell the project to a third party. The South Australian government now prepares to put out a new tender for a long-term electricity supply contract, covering 100% of the region’s power needs, under a 20-year generation project agreement signed in 2017. The SolarReserve bided lowest at the time of AUD78/MWh as the former Labor state government approved AUD110 million in the form of a concessional equity loan to back the project.
The project was supposed to create 650 full-time jobs and more than 4,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region.
