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Power and Water Corporation is the sole provider of electricity, water supply and sewerage services to almost 80,000 customers across the Northern Territory ?¨C an area of more than 1.3 million square kilometres. Power and Water Corporation is the sole provider of electricity, water supply and sewerage services to almost 80,000 customers across the Northern Territory ?¨C an area of more than 1.3 million square kilometres. Power and Water Corporation is the sole provider of electricity, water supply and sewerage services to almost 80,000 customers across the Northern Territory ?¨C an area of more than 1.3 million square kilometres.
Home  >  Newsroom  >  Media releases  >  2011  >  Alice Springs 1MW solar power station launch

Alice Springs 1MW solar power station launch

28 Jul 2011

Residents of the Central Australian town of Alice Springs will benefit from Australia’s largest tracking solar power system which was officially launched today.

The one megawatt (MW) solar power plant has the capacity to provide energy for approximately 288 average Alice Springs homes.

Power and Water originally identified the need to provide all Alice Springs residents with access to renewable energy and has worked with Alice Solar City and SunPower to develop the solar power station.

Power and Water is increasing its commitment to environmental sustainability in line with changing community attitudes and global scientific concern. Power and Water Manager Sustainable Energy Trevor Horman said the Corporation has long supported renewable energy development and was pleased to be part of this exciting solar power station. “We have worked to integrate solar systems into the electricity grid in six of our remote communities and we have three more solar power stations under construction,” he said.

The Uterne project, built on four hectares at Ilparpa on the outskirts of Alice Springs, consists of more than 3,000 high-efficiency SunPower mono-crystalline panels or flat plate solar panels. “Central Australia is blessed with high levels of solar insolation and as the economics of solar technology improves, further investments like Uterne will become viable,” said Mr Horman.

According to the government’s Bureau of Meteorology, Alice Springs averages 9.6 hours of sunshine per day. In the last 56 years, the area has averaged only 63 cloudy days per year. A one kW system averages 8kWh of electricity energy per day.

Power and Water continues to explore renewable technologies right across the Territory including tidal, bio-fuels, wind, solar thermal and solar photovoltaic to keep abreast of the best available technologies to incorporate into our systems.

Power and Water has also released an invitation for companies to submit an Expression of Interest to supply a utility scale renewable energy power station to be connected to the Darwin - Katherine grid.

Uterne (pronounced ‘u-turn-ay’) means ‘bright, sunny day’ in the local Arrernte language.

More information is available on the fact sheet.

 

 Flate-plate panels at Uterne

Alice Springs Solar Power Station

Solar panels track the sun at Uterne


Contact: Media Manager

Phone: 8985 8481

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The Power and Water Corporation is the Northern Territory of Australia's provider of electricity, water and sewerage services.
We are one of the largest businesses in the Territory with assets in excess of $1.2 billion and servicing around 80,000 customers.