Solar project fails as Australian government reviews clean energy

Plans to build the world's largest solar power plant of its kind have been scrapped in Australia after the developers raised concerns about the government's commitment to clean energy.

Solar Systems said it suspended plans for a 100-megawatt plant in the Australian state of Victoria. The plant, which would have used concentrating photovoltaic technology to intensify the power of the sun, would have been three times larger than any currently commissioned projects, data showed.

Australia has assigned Dick Warburton, a former Reserve Bank of Australia board member who has expressed doubts about human contributions to global warming, to head a review of the country's clean-energy goals. The current target is to get 20 per cent of electricity from renewables by 2020, up from about 15 per cent in 2013.

The project in Mildura was scrapped because of the review into the target along with lower wholesale power prices, according to a statement from Solar Systems, a unit of New South Wales-based Silex, and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. Funding for A$75 million (HK$539.15 million) of conditional support from the renewable energy agency was terminated, the statement said.

"After careful consideration of project economics, we have decided to reassess plans for the Mildura 100MW Solar Power Station," Silex chief executive Michael Goldsworthy said.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott asked Warburton to consider doing away with Australia's clean-energy targets, the Australian Financial Review reported, citing unidentified people. He has also scrapped Australia's levy on carbon dioxide and sought to dismantle institutions set up to help the country limit the pollutants blamed for global warming.