With the future cloudy for its plan to build a 1,600-foot-high, 50-megawatt solar tower power plant in southeast Australia, EnviroMission (EVOMY.PK) announced this week that it is studying the feasibility of sites near El Paso, Texas. The Melbourne, Australia-based startup says it is also is using weather stations from utility Arizona Public Service, a subsidiary of Pinnacle West (PNW), to assess potential solar tower sites northwest of Phoenix. Another site assessment is being conducted on Native American land that covers part of Arizona, California and Nevada. EnviroMission is working with the Fort Mojave tribe’s utility, Aha Macav Power Service. The developments come as the viability of the Australian solar tower remains unclear. The project is planned for 24,000 acres of sun-drenched land EnviroMission owns on the edge of the Outback on the New South Wales-Victoria border. However, EnviroMission lost out on a $A75 million ($US57 million) Australian federal government grant to Solar Systems, a competing Melbourne solar power company. Solar Systems intends to build a 154-megawatt solar power station in the same area. (See "Tower of Power," the Business 2.0 magazine story I wrote on the EnviroMission for details on the Aussie solar tower.)
In other solar power station news this week, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission approved construction of an 8-megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant. The plant will be built by SunEdison, which will sell the electricity to utility Xcel Energy (XEL).
Green Wombat 
Thanks for your informative site. Whilst the Aust Federal Government provides many different types of grants I would have thought that there was a need for a number of major players in the development of solar power stations rather than one or two. This way we get better competition, diversity of research and development plus ofcourse the spin offs in the development of other industries in both manufacture of components/parts and service areas. All employing more people and not just in capital cities.
Thanks, John. I think you’re right about the need for competition. While there is no shortage of talent and cutting-edge technology in Australia, there does seem to be a lack of investors willing to take the risks associated with developing utility-scale solar energy. Thus, the dependence on government programs like the Low Emissions Technology Demonstration Fund to jump-start things.
I’m cureous as to the technolog to be used in this type of tower. What is the competetive cost of kilowatt output on average?
More details about the solar tower technology can be found in the Business 2.0 article (the link is in the post). The competitive cost per kilowatt/hour depends on a variety of factors but EnviroMission’s CEO has said he expects the tower to be competitive with coal-fired power plants. Australia has some of the industralized world’s lowest electricity rates due to its vast coal deposits and dependence on coal-fired power plants.
That radical man!!! totally amazing!!
i am astonished that we haven’t thought of that earlier!! cool dude!!
I am curious to know waht the cost of this whole thing will be. Waht will the running cost and how much total will cost to create?