The Australian Commonwealth Minister for Resources and Energy Martin Ferguson has released the guidelines for the first round of the government's 1.5 billion dollars (1.37 billion U.S. dollars) solar power program. He called for applications for the program by Feb. 15, 2010.
According to the government press releases on Friday, round one will target 400 megawatts of solar power with solid, profitable technologies so
that there will be a leeway for a second round to test promising technologies but are not commercially proven as yet. Two projects will be selected in round one one solar thermal and one
solar photovoltaic.
"I am very pleased to call for Solar Flagship applications from today and I look forward to strong competition to deliver the first two projects," Ferguson said.
The Clean Energy Initiative includes the 1.5 billion dollars (1. 37 billion U.S. dollars) Solar Flagships Program, the 2.4 billion dollars (2.2
billion U.S. dollars) Carbon Capture and Storage Flagships Program, the 560 million dollars (513 million U.S. dollars) Australian Center for Renewable Energy and the 100 million dollars (91.6 million U.S. dollars) Australian Solar Institute.