Solar demonstration facility switched on in Mildura

16th Apr 2013

Australia's solar industry is abuzz with enthusiasm as early operations have begun at Victoria's Mildura solar power station, according to an announcement from the operating company Silex's chief executive officer Dr Michael Goldsworthy.

"The commencement of operations at our Mildura Demonstration Facility is a significant milestone in the commercialisation of Solar Systems’ unique ‘Dense Array’ CPV technology," said Dr Michael Goldsworthy.

"The first array consisting of ten dish systems has been successfully commissioned and is operational, with the remaining three arrays of 30 dishes to be brought online progressively over the next few weeks."

Mildura's demonstration facility is connected to the grid and once it's fully fired up and running it will have a capacity of 1.5 MW. That can provide power to about 500 households – now that's a true solar success story.

Luckily for the state of Victoria, both federal and state governments were supportive of developing the facility and it received $10 million in state funding as well as additional support from the federal government.

The next phase of the project is to develop the 100 MW solar power station. Construction is set to begin on this in 2014, subject to the success of the demonstration facility and other funding arrangements.

Chairman of the Mildura Development Corporation Chris Ellis has commented on Mildura's suitability for a solar power plant.

Mildura has all the sun, land and grid that anybody would ever need to deliver a successful solar power project.

Silex's solar power plant is particularly exciting as it’s making use of cutting-edge technology, namely Solar System's 'Dense Array' CPV conversion system. This technology utilises triple junction solar cells which can operate at over 40 per cent conversion efficiency and use active cooling to maximize lifetime performance and power output.

Posted by Mike Peacock

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