Throwing more public money at the failed SolarReserve project would be ignoring why it floundered in the first place

The cries for governments to step in and save SolarReserve’s failed renewable energy project — dubbed “too big to fail” — are indicative of the magical thinking which informs parts of the renewable energy debate.

• Port Augusta solar thermal project falls over
• SolarReserve’s US project falters

The cries for governments to step in and save SolarReserve’s failed renewable energy project near Port Augusta — dubbed “too big to fail” by a key public supporter — are indicative of the magical thinking which informs parts of the renewable energy debate in Australia.

Let’s be clear, this project has had about a much government support as you could reasonably give it.

It had a $110 million loan commitment from the Federal Government and had won a tender to supply all of the State Government’s energy needs from 2020.

But the numbers still didn’t stack up.

With many serious companies playing in the renewable field, such as SIMEC Energy — backed by Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance — and Neoen which owns wind farms and the big Tesla battery in SA, the idea that this project falling over is due to some sort of market failure doesn’t pass the pub test.

With such generous public support, investors should have been flocking to fund the $540 million in extra funds the project needed to get up, and which it has been trying to raise for two years.

An artist’s impression of the solar thermal power plant, which was planned near Port Augusta. Picture: Supplied

But they appear to have stayed away in droves.

There could be many reasons for this — the technology has had its issues, with a US project owned by Solar reserve offline for eight months in 2016-17.

And financiers want a return on investment. Other projects in the renewables sector across the nation continue to be successfully funded, while Solar Reserve has stalled.

Either the returns weren’t there, which might have been because of the low-ball bid which got the company the SA government contract, or there wasn’t confidence in the technology.

So why should we — as the Greens suggest — bail this project out?

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is suggesting we nationalise this project — claiming “the Liberals” have dropped the ball.

What about the proponents of the project who don’t seem to be answering their phones today? It’s their ball handling skills I’d be questioning.

Repower Port Augusta Campaigner Dan Spencer says the project is “too big to fail”?

Why this project? Why not the various geothermal energy projects which have been funded — and failed — over the past decade or so — or the many renewables projects currently in the development phase using established technologies?

Mr Spencer — a self-described climate activist and campaigner for the Australian Services Union — says “The Aurora solar thermal power station gave the state huge credibility in terms of securing the state’s energy future and driving down power prices”, but considering it never existed beyond proposal form, this claim cannot be taken seriously.

The failure of this project is a blow for the people of Port Augusta, given that it would have created many jobs during construction and 50 during operations.

But critics should perhaps look to the confidence with which it was spruiked by the former Weatherill Labor Government, who committed $2.6 million in taxpayers’ funds to advertising the project, and used it as a key plank of their pre-election energy policy.

The language used to promote the project was confident, perhaps overly so, with the Premier tweeting in 2017 that “Solar thermal in Port Augusta is Go!”.

BREAKING We've secured Solar Thermal for Port Augusta! ✅ Lower bills ✅ World leading clean tech ✅ Jobs ✅ More reliable power when we need it pic.twitter.com/qmvvHo2Bj3

— Jay Weatherill (@JayWeatherill) August 14, 2017

This was clearly premature.

Anyone with a passing interest in large scale developments in SA and across the nation knows that swathes of “proposals” pass from the front of the desk to the circular file* every year.

To single this one out for saving with public funds because it has a feel-good renewables sheen doesn’t make sense.

*The bin.

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