The warm Mediterranean climate and regular sunshine of the Mildura region has been luring families and holiday makers to this part of the world for decades. But the warm weather has been attracting a new wave of interest in recent years, from developers and renewable energy experts, keen to make use of Mildura’s sunny days for a whole different reason.
With an annual average of 8.6 hours of sunshine per day and 132 clear days per year, the Mildura region is an obvious choice when it comes to possible spots to develop solar power generation facilities.
Working closely with Mildura Development Corporation, Mildura Rural City Council has been marketing the solar potential of the region to the world for some time and CEO Mark Henderson said the hard work was now paying off.
“In September the State Government announced it would contribute $100 million towards developing Australia’s largest solar power station south of Mildura,” Mark Henderson said.
“This is an extremely exciting time for us and will hopefully pave the way for further interest and investment in our region from the renewable energy sector.”
The State Government’s contribution backs a proposal by TRUenergy to build the Mallee Solar Park.
The project would create 200 new jobs in construction and 20 ongoing jobs, deliver 345 gigawatt hours of clean electricity each year and generate enough power to run 60,000 homes each year.
TRUenergy hopes to build the photovoltaic plant on a 600 hectare site about 10 kilometres south of Mildura, with construction to be undertaken by Bovis Lend Lease in four stages between 2012 and 2015.
TRUenergy’s solar proposal follows confirmation in March this year from Silex Systems, which plans to build a large scale photovoltaic solar demonstration plant near Mildura.
“The ripple effect of major projects like these can not be underestimated and hopefully we will see benefits in economic, social and environmental realms,” Mark Henderson said.
“These announcements really justify the extra work that Council and Mildura Development Corporation have put in to attract solar investment here.”
Representatives from both Mildura Development Corporation and Mildura Rural City Council have participated in two delegations to the USA in a bid to market Mildura to the big international solar players.
“As well as an abundance of sunshine, we have the National electricity grid running through our region, connecting to a terminal sub station, both of which are important factors for the location of renewable energy generation” he said.
“We are also spruiking our location, access to potable and raw water, affordable and available land and excellent transport infrastructure, which are prerequisites for solar developers.”
As the push for renewable energy production strengthens and community demands for clean and green alternatives continues, Mildura Rural City will maintain its push to be the solar capital of Australia.
“Solar presents a definite opportunity to diversify our economy and for us to be part of the clean energy phenomenon which is set to grow in the future.”
