Vic: Solar power station in doubt as receivers move in
Tue Sep 8 02:12:10 EST 2009
Mon Sep 7 16:12:10 UTC 2009
MELBOURNE, Sept 8 AAP - A bid to build the world's largest solar power station in Victoria's northwest is in doubt after the company involved was placed in receivership.
The $420 million project, planned by Solar Systems, was to have produced power for about 45,000 houses and has provided work for 150 people, The Age newspaper said.
Administrator Stephen Longley of PricewaterhouseCoopers said he hoped to have news for the workers by the end of the week.
"We are assessing Solar Systems' operational and financial position with a view to continuing operations on a reduced scale over the next three months in order to provide us with sufficient time to restructure and sell the business as a going concern," he said.
The proposed 154 megawatt power station would use photovoltaic solar cells to magnify solar energy 500 times and deliver electricity to the national grid by 2013, the newspaper said.
A pilot power station has been finished at Bridgewater, near Bendigo, but work on the main station is yet to commence.
Investor TRUenergy's parent company, China Light and Power, wrote down its $A53 million investment in the project last month.
A spokesman for TRUenergy said the company still believed in the technology and would still invest if a partner could be found.
The Victorian opposition was highly critical of the state of the project, but a government spokeswoman blamed the situation on Solar System's inability to raise capital in difficult world financial circumstances.
The first meeting of creditors is scheduled for September 17.
Solar Systems did not return calls from The Age.
