AUSTRALIA'S biggest solar power plant will be built in Western Australia's burgeoning mid-west resources region next year, after the state government announced yesterday that it would foot the $58 million bill.
Unveiling the 10-megawatt solar trial project yesterday, state Energy Minister Peter Collier also flagged a taxpayer-funded $40 million expansion of Verve Energy's Grasmere wind farm near Albany, in the south.
At peak periods from 2012, the 35-megawatt wind farm would have the capacity to supply up to 80 per cent of the power needs of the regional city, which has a population of more than 30,000.
Mr Collier said the government would contribute one-third of the bill for the largest current grid-connected solar power plant, to be built near Geraldton, north of Perth.
Victoria plans a bigger plant, contingent on federal funding.
