SPV Data from Earth Policy Institute

World Annual Photovoltaic Production, 1975-2007 (figure and table)

World Cumulative Photovoltaic Production, 1975-2007 (figure and table)

Annual Photovoltaic Production, Select Countries and Europe, 1995-2006 (figure and table)

Annual Thin Film Photovoltaic Production, Select Countries and Regions, 2003-2006 (figure andtable)

Annual Photovoltaic Installations, Select Countries and Regions, 2000-2007 (figure and table)

Photovoltaic Production by Top Ten Producing Companies, 2006 and First Half of 2007 (table)

World Average Photovoltaic Module Cost per Watt, 1975-2006 (figure and table)

World Photovoltaic Production, 1975-2007
Year	Annual Production	Cumulative Production
	Megawatts
1975	2	2
1976	2	4
1977	2	6
1978	3	9
1979	4	13
1980	7	20
1981	8	28
1982	9	37
1983	17	54
1984	22	76
1985	23	99
1986	26	125
1987	29	154
1988	34	188
1989	40	228
1990	47	275
1991	55	330
1992	58	388
1993	60	448
1994	69	517
1995	78	594
1996	89	683
1997	126	809
1998	155	964
1999	201	1,165
2000	277	1,442
2001	386	1,828
2002	547	2,375
2003	748	3,123
2004	1,194	4,317
2005	1,786	6,103
2006	2,521	8,623
2007	3,800	12,423
Source: Compiled by Earth Policy Institute from Worldwatch Institute, Vital Signs 2005(Washington, DC: 2005); Worldwatch Institute, Vital Signs 2007-2008 (Washington DC: 2008); Prometheus Institute, "23rd Annual Data Collection - Final," PVNews, vol. 26, no. 4 (April 2007), pp. 8-9; REN21, Renewables 2007 Global Status Report: A Pre-Publication Summary for the UNFCCC COP13 (Paris: December 2007).

 

Annual Photovoltaic Production by Country, 1995-2006
Year	United States	Japan	Europe	China	Taiwan	India	Others	Total
	Megawatts
1995	34.8	16.4	20.1	NA	NA	NA	NA	77.7
1996	38.9	21.2	18.8	NA	NA	NA	NA	88.7
1997	51.0	35.0	30.4	NA	NA	NA	NA	125.8
1998	53.7	49.0	33.5	NA	NA	NA	NA	154.9
1999	60.8	80.0	40.0	NA	NA	NA	NA	201.3
2000	75.0	128.6	49.8	2.5	NA	10.5	10.5	276.8
2001	100.3	171.2	73.9	3.0	3.5	12.5	21.6	386.0
2002	120.6	251.1	122.1	8.0	8.0	19.1	18.2	547.1
2003	103.0	363.9	200.2	9.0	17.0	23.1	32.2	748.4
2004	138.7	601.5	311.8	35.0	40.0	31.1	35.4	1,193.5
2005	154.0	833.0	476.6	134.0	88.0	35.5	65.0	1,786.1
2006	201.6	926.9	678.3	369.5	177.5	43.4	123.6	2,520.8
Note: NA = not available or negligible.
Source: Compiled by Earth Policy Institute from Worldwatch Institute, Signposts 2004, CD-Rom (Washington, DC: 2005); Prometheus Institute, "23rd Annual Data Collection - Final,"PVNews, vol. 26, no. 4 (April 2007), pp. 8-9.

 

Annual Thin Film Photovoltaic Production, 2003-2006
Year	United States	Japan	Europe	Rest of World	Total
	Megawatts
2003	14.1	5.0	7.7	6.0	32.8
2004	23.0	17.5	15.6	7.0	63.1
2005	46.0	36.2	19.6	6.0	107.8
2006	92.5	54.7	12.4	11.0	170.6
Source: Prometheus Institute, PVNews, vol. 26, no. 4 (April 2007), p. 10.

 

Annual Photovoltaic Installations, Select Countries and Regions, 2000-2007
Country/Region	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
	Megawatts
Germany	44.0	78.0	80.0	170.0	500.0	700.0	1,050.0	1,260.0
Japan	74.4	91.0	141.0	201.0	256.0	320.0	350.0	402.5
United States	16.8	28.4	49.1	71.7	89.9	108.0	141.4	259.0
Rest of Europe	1.0	3.0	10.0	11.0	24.0	60.0	118.0	234.0
Rest of Asia	13.0	19.0	43.0	33.0	47.0	55.0	81.0	131.9
Note: Installations for 2007 are estimates.
Source: Travis Bradford and Paul Maycock, "PV Market Update: Demand Grows Quickly and Supply Races to Catch Up," Renewable Energy World, July 2007.

Photovoltaic Production by Top Ten Producing Companies, 2006 and First Half of 2007
Company	2006	First Half of 2007
	Megawatts
Sharp (Japan)	434	225
Q-Cells (Germany)	253	160
Suntech (China)	158	145
Kyocera (Japan)	180	108
Sanyo (Japan)	155	87
Motech (Taiwan)	102	85
Deutsche Solar/Shell (United States, Germany)	86	66
First Solar (United States)	60	61
Mitsubishi (Japan)	111	55
SunPower (Philippines)	63	54
Source: Prometheus Institute, "Asian Cell Producers Swamping the Boat: A Look at the First Half of 2007," PVNews, vol. 26, no. 9 (September 2007), pp. 6-8.

World Average Photovoltaic Production and Module Cost per Watt, 1975-2006
Year	Annual Production	Cost per Watt
	Megawatts	2007 U.S. Dollars
1975	2	99.61
1976	2	78.39
1977	2	58.92
1978	3	41.18
1979	4	32.89
1980	7	27.79
1981	8	21.16
1982	9	17.92
1983	17	14.80
1984	22	12.88
1985	23	10.68
1986	26	8.67
1987	29	6.73
1988	34	7.30
1989	40	7.40
1990	47	7.47
1991	55	7.18
1992	58	6.29
1993	60	5.79
1994	69	5.32
1995	78	5.33
1996	89	5.11
1997	126	5.26
1998	155	4.71
1999	201	4.29
2000	277	4.21
2001	386	3.79
2002	547	3.73
2003	748	3.65
2004	1,194	3.55
2005	1,786	3.70
2006	2,521	3.84
Note: 2001 and 2003 prices are estimated by Earth Policy Institute.
Source: Compiled by Earth Policy Institute from Worldwatch Institute, Vital Signs 2001(Washington, DC: 2001); Paul Maycock, "Boomer," PVNews, July 2007, p. 12. Prices adjusted to 2007 dollars using U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, "Implicit Price Deflators for Gross Domestic Product," atwww.bea.gov/bea/dn/nipaweb/TableView.asp#Mid.

 

Link back to the text of this ECO-ECONOMY INDICATOR

Link back to the Solar Energy Index

Nagpur to have Asia's biggest solar thermal power plant

Nagpur (PTI): The second capital of Maharashtra will soon have the privilege of having a 10 mw solar thermal power plant, which will be the biggest such plant in entire Asian continent, thanks to the initiative of union ministry of new and renewable energy.

" The unique 10 mw solar thermal generation facility will also serve the purpose of demonstration for solar energy enthusiasts across the country, being the only plant coming up here," Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Vilas Muttemwar told PTI.

Nagpur has been selected because of high sun radiation besides its central geographical location, the minister said adding the solar energy generated is environmental friendly and free from any polution.

Moreover, there are no transmission and distribution losses unlike the traditional methods of coal-fired energy in most electricity generation units.

The plant load factory is between 80 to 90 percent of the installed capacity, he said.

" The generated power will be put on the national grid. It's small step but a big leap in solar energy generation world," Muttemwar, the lone congress MP from entire Vidarbha said.

CSP Plants Overview

Data for Solar Thermal Power Coming to a Boil World Installed Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Capacity, 1980-2007, with Projection for 2012 (table) World Cumulative Installed Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Capacity, 1980-2007 (figure) World Cumulative Installed Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Capacity, 1980-2007, with Projection for 2012 (figure) World Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Plants Greater than 10 Megawatts and in Operation as of June 2008 (table) World's Top Ten Largest Proposed Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Projects as of June 2008 (table) Select World List of Proposed Solar Thermal Power Projects by Power Capacity (table) Countries Developing Concentrating Solar Thermal Power as of June 2008 (map) Land Area in Algeria Required to Meet Electricity Demand for the World and the European Union with Concentrating Solar Thermal Power (map) World Installed Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Capacity, 1980-2007, with Projection for 2012 Year Net Annual Addition 1 Cumulative Installed Capacity 2 Megawatts Megawatts 1980 1 1 1981 2 3 1982 10 13 1983 4 17 1984 1 17 1985 16 33 1986 28 61 1987 58 119 1988 30 149 1989 50 199 1990 75 274 1991 80 354 1992 3 356 1993 0 356 1994 0 356 1995 0 356 1996 10 366 1997 0 366 1998 0 366 1999 0 366 2000 -10 356 2001 0 356 2002 0 356 2003 0 356 2004 0 356 2005 0 356 2006 1 357 2007 100 457 … 2012 3 6,400 Notes: 1 Net annual addition equals new installations minus retirements. 2 Cumulative installed capacity may not equal sum of net annual additions due to rounding. 3 2012 is a projection based on data from Emerging Energy Research, Global Concentrated Solar Power Markets and Strategies, 2007-2020 (Cambridge, MA: November 2007) and Earth Policy Institute research. Source: Compiled by Jonathan G. Dorn, Earth Policy Institute, June 2008, with 1980-2007 data from Shirish Garud, Making Solar Thermal Power Generation in India a Reality - Overview of Technologies, Opportunities, and Challenges (New Delhi: The Energy and Resources Institute, 2006); Rainer Aringhoff et al., Concentrated Solar Thermal Power – Now! (Brussels, Almeria, and Amsterdam: European Solar Thermal Industry Association, IEA SolarPACES, and Greenpeace International, September 2005), p. 10; National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Parabolic Trough Power Plant Data, electronic database, at www.nrel.gov/csp/troughnet/power_plant_data.html, updated 8 May 2007; Acciona Energy, "CSP - 64 MW Plant in the United States," at www.acciona-energia.com/default.asp?x=0002020401, viewed 15 April 2008; Abengoa Solar, "PS10: The First Commercial Tower of the World," at www.abengoasolar.com/sites/solar/en/nproyectos_ps10.jsp, viewed 15 April 2008; Peter Fairley, "Solar Without the Panels," Technology Review, 29 February 2008.  World Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Plants Greater than 10 Megawatts in Operation as of June 2008 Location Company Project Power Capacity Year of Initial Operation Megawatts   California, USA Luz International Ltd. SEGS I 14 1985 California, USA Luz International Ltd. SEGS II 30 1986 California, USA Luz International Ltd. SEGS III 30 1987 California, USA Luz International Ltd. SEGS IV 30 1987 California, USA Luz International Ltd. SEGS V 30 1988 California, USA Luz International Ltd. SEGS VI 30 1989 California, USA Luz International Ltd. SEGS VII 30 1989 California, USA Luz International Ltd. SEGS VIII 80 1990 California, USA Luz International Ltd. SEGS IX 80 1991 Andalucίa, Spain Abengoa Solar PS10 (Solúcar Platform) 11 2007 Nevada, USA Acciona Energy Solar One 64 2007 Source: Compiled by Jonathan G. Dorn, Earth Policy Institute, June 2008, with SEGS from National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Parabolic Trough Power Plant Data, electronic database, at www.nrel.gov/csp/troughnet/power_plant_data.html, updated 8 May 2007; PS10 from Abengoa Solar, "PS10: The First Commercial Tower of the World," at www.abengoasolar.com/sites/solar/en/nproyectos_ps10.jsp, viewed 15 April 2008; Rhone Resch and Noah Kaye, "The Promise of Solar Energy: A Low-Carbon Energy Strategy for the 21st Century," UN Chronicle, vol. XLIV, no. 2 (2007); Solar One from Acciona Energy, "CSP - 64 MW Plant in the United States," at www.acciona-energia.com/default.asp?x=0002020401, viewed 15 April 2008. World's Top Ten Largest Proposed Concentrating Solar Thermal Projects as of June 2008 Location Company Project Power Capacity 1 Scheduled Year of Completion Megawatts   California, USA Solel Solar Systems, Ltd. Mojave Solar Park 553 2011 California, USA Stirling Energy Systems Solar One 500 (850) 2011 California, USA BrightSource Energy, Inc. Ivanpah Solar Electricity Generating System 400 (900) 2011 California, USA Stirling Energy Systems Solar Two 300 (900) not set  Andalucίa, Spain Abengoa Solar Solúcar Platform 300 2013 2 Florida, USA Ausra, Inc. n.a. 300 2011 Arizona, USA Abengoa Solar Solana 280 2011 California, USA Beacon Solar, LLC Beacon Solar Energy Project 250 2011 California, USA Harper Lake, LLC Harper Lake Energy Park 250 (500) 2010 Ramat Negev, Israel 3 n.a. n.a. 250 2011 Notes: n.a. = not available. At the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in September 2007, Ausra, Inc. committed to building 1,000 megawatts of solar thermal power, including the project listed here, over the next five years in the United States. Solar Millennium AG is expected to announce plans in late 2008 to build four 250-megawatt CSP plants in the United States (not included in this list). The plants have been negotiated and development depends on interconnection approval. Operation of the first of the four plants is expected to begin in 2011.  1 Power capacity lists proposed size with possible expansions noted in parentheses. 2 Some CSP projects such as the Solúcar Platform are modular and part can come online before the total project is complete. Currently almost 4 percent of the Solúcar Platform is operational (the PS10 Tower came online in 2007), with additional capacity incrementally coming online over the next several years. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2013. 3 Israel's Ministry for National Infrastructures issued a tender in early 2008 for 250 megawatts of CSP. Source: Compiled by Jonathan G. Dorn, Earth Policy Institute, June 2008. References available upon request. World List of Selected Proposed Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Projects as of June 2008 1 Location Company Project Power Capacity 2 Scheduled Year of Completion Megawatts California, USA Solel Solar Systems, Ltd. Mojave Solar Park 553 2011 California, USA Stirling Energy Systems Solar One 500 (850) 2011 California, USA BrightSource Energy, Inc. Ivanpah Solar Electricity Generating System 400 (900) 2011 California, USA Stirling Energy Systems Solar Two 300 (900) not set  Andalucίa, Spain Abengoa Solar Solúcar Platform 300 2013 3 Florida, USA Ausra, Inc. n.a. 300 2011 Arizona, USA Abengoa Solar Solana 280 2011 California, USA Beacon Solar, LLC Beacon Solar Energy Project 250 2011 California, USA Harper Lake, LLC Harper Lake Energy Park 250 (500) 2010 Ramat Negev, Israel 4 n.a. n.a. 250 2011 California, USA eSolar n.a. 245 2011 Australia EnviroMission Ltd. Solar Mission Project 200 not set  California, USA Ausra, Inc. Carrizo Energy Solar Farm 177 2010 Jordan n.a. n.a. 150 (300) 2015 Spain Solel Solar Systems, Ltd. n.a. 150 not set  Ciudad Real, Spain Iberdrola Renewables n.a. 150 not set  Upington, South Africa Eskom n.a. 100 not set Madinat Zayad, United Arab Emirates Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company)  Shams 100 2010 Greece Solar Millennium AG Theseus 52 not set China Solar Millennium AG n.a. 50 (1,000) 2020 Spain Solar Millennium AG Extremasol 1 50 2011 Spain Solar Millennium AG Extremasol 2 50 2012 Spain Solar Millennium AG Murciasol 1 50 2011 Spain Solar Millennium AG Murciasol 2 50 not set Córdoba, Spain Acciona Energy Palma del Rio I 50 not set Córdoba, Spain Acciona Energy Palma del Rio II 50 not set Ciudad Real, Spain Abengoa Solar Helios 1 50 not set Ciudad Real, Spain Abengoa Solar Helios 2 50 not set California, United States Bethel Energy, LLC Bethel 1 50 2010 California, United States Bethel Energy, LLC Bethel 2 50 2010 California, United States n.a. Victorville 2 50 2010 Cáceres, Spain Acciona Energy Majadas de Tiétar 50 not set Badajoz, Spain Acciona Energy Alvarado 50 2009 Andalucίa, Spain Abengoa Solar Ecija 1 50 not set Andalucίa, Spain Abengoa Solar Ecija 2 50 not set Andalucίa, Spain Solar Millennium AG Andasol 1 50 2008 Andalucίa, Spain Solar Millennium AG Andasol 2 50 2009 Andalucίa, Spain Solar Millennium AG Andasol 3 50 2010 Spain Iberdrola Renewables n.a. 50 not set Spain Iberdrola Renewables n.a. 50 not set Spain Iberdrola Renewables n.a. 50 not set Spain Iberdrola Renewables n.a. 50 not set Spain Iberdrola Renewables n.a. 50 not set Spain Iberdrola Renewables n.a. 50 not set Spain Iberdrola Renewables n.a. 50 not set Liddell, Australia Ausra, Inc. Liddell Power Station 37 2008 Kuraymat, Egypt Solar Millennium AG n.a. 30 not set Sonora, Mexico n.a. Agua Prieta II 25 2009 Yazd, Iran n.a. n.a. 20 2010 Hassi-R'mel, Algeria Abengoa Solar n.a. 20 2009 Almaden, Spain Abengoa Solar n.a. 20 not set Ain-Ben-Mathar, Morocco Abengoa Solar n.a. 20 2008 Andalucίa, Spain Sener Solar Tres 16 not set Cloncurry, Australia Lloyd Energy Systems and Ergon Energy Cloncurry Solar Power Project 10 2010 Notes: n.a. = not available. At the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in September 2007, Ausra, Inc. committed to building 1,000 megawatts of solar thermal power, including the projects listed here, over the next five years in the United States. Solar Millennium AG is expected to announce plans in late 2008 to build four 250-megawatt CSP plants in the United States (not included in this list). The plants have been negotiated and development depends on interconnection approval. Operation of the first of the four plants is expected to begin in 2011.  1 This table is a list of selected projects larger than 10 megawatts, not a comprehensive list of proposed CSP projects. 2 Power capacity lists proposed size with possible expansions noted in parentheses. 3 Some CSP projects such as the Solúcar Platform are modular and part can come online before the total project is complete. Currently almost 4 percent of the Solúcar Platform is operational (the PS10 Tower came online in 2007), with additional capacity incrementally coming online over the next several years. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2013. 4 Israel's Ministry for National Infrastructures issued a tender in early 2008 for 250 megawatts of CSP. Source: Compiled by Jonathan G. Dorn, Earth Policy Institute, June 2008. References available upon request.       Link back to Plan B Update text

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Ausra

Ausra, a CA solar thermal power plant company, wants to add solar thermal to the mix at plants now fully-fired by coal. By supplementing these plants with solar, Ausra expects its solar thermal system to reduce the amount of coal needed in some plants by 30-50%. It may not be a perfect solution, but this bridge to the future strategy may allow solar companies to grow and coal fired plants to begin to meet their mandated renewable energy quotas.

The Saudi Arabia Of Solar Energy

William Pentland 08.22.08, 6:00 AM ET

In the wake of the first Gulf War, the U.S. Army assessed Saudi Arabia's solar energy resource potential in a classified effort to determine how oil fires had affected the region.

The results were clear and surprising. In addition to being a vast petroleum repository, the desert nation was also the heart of the most potentially productive region on the planet for harvesting power from the sun. In other words, Saudi Arabia was the Saudi Arabia of solar energy.

Sitting in the center of the so-called Sun Belt, the country is part of a vast, rainless region reaching from the western edge of North Africa to the eastern edge of Central Asia that boasts the best solar energy resources on Earth. With the cost of oil skyrocketing, this belt is attracting the attention of a growing number of European leaders, who are embracing an ambitious proposal to harvest this solar energy for their nations.

The irony is inescapable and the story a familiar one, as the developed world again turns to the less developed countries in hopes of powering their economies. More important, it highlights an unappreciated implication of a solar-powered economy: The end of the oil age will not necessarily bring an end to the ugly geopolitics, resource wars and national rivalries that oil created.

The Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation, or TREC, is the brainchild of a consortium led by the controversial Club of Rome and includes influential members like the German Aerospace Bureau and several universities in Europe and the Middle East.

TREC is spearheading a political initiative to build a so-called transmission supergrid by concentrating solar thermal power plants, wind turbines and long distance power lines to supply energy to Europe. The proposed power plants would simultaneously provide energy to seawater desalination plants in the Middle East and North Africa.

While the wild-eyed scheme might seem better suited for conspiracy theories than reality, it has attracted a growing number of impressive and powerful backers. In 2007, Prince El Hassan of Jordan, who has called for implementing the plan with an Apollo-like program, presented the plan during a European Union parliamentary session. Nicolas Sarkozy, the recently elected President of France, and U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown have both publicly endorsed the supergrid project in recent weeks.

In July, Sarkozy hosted the inaugural meeting of the "Union for the Mediterranean" in Paris. The Union, which seeks to promote relations between North Africa, the Middle East and Europe, considers TREC's solar energy proposal one of its top priorities. Meanwhile, the escalating conflict in Georgia, which has exposed the extent of Europe's energy insecurity, has undoubtedly increased the TREC plan's appeal.

While TREC's plan is nowhere near becoming a reality, it seems inevitable that, in one form or another, someone will try to capitalize on the vast solar energy resources available in the sun-soaked countries of the Sun Belt.

While it is technically possible to convert sunlight into electricity anywhere, it costs far less to do so in areas that receive the most powerful forms of sunlight--sunlight that loses the least amount of radiant energy while moving from space to earth. The Sun Belt receives the lion's share of this energy-rich sunlight.

While speaking at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona, Spain, in July, Arnulf Jaeger-Walden, one of Europe's leading energy authorities, said that less than 0.4% of the solar energy that falls on the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East would satisfy all of Europe's energy needs.

The opportunity isn't lost on Sun Belt countries. In March, Saudi Arabia's oil minister, Ali al-Nuaimi, said the country hopes to become as expert with solar energy as it is with oil. While Saudi Arabia has long toyed with solar power for small projects, such as a 1980s "Solar Village" program to develop the use of the technology in remote regions, its aspirations appear to be growing.

"For a country like Saudi Arabia ... one of the most important sources of energy to look at and to develop is solar energy," al-Nuaimi told the French oil newsletter Petrostrategies. "One of the research efforts that we are going to undertake is to see how we make Saudi Arabia a center for solar energy research, and hopefully over the next 30 to 50 years we will be a major megawatt exporter."

In Hassi R'mel, Algeria, 260 miles south of Algiers, construction has begun on a new power plant using a combination of solar and natural gas. The hope is to generate 150 megawatts of electricity by 2010, with 25 megawatts from a solar array stretching nearly 2 million square feet. The long-term goal is to export more than 6,000 megawatts of solar-generated power to Europe by 2020.

"Our potential in thermal solar power is four times the world's energy consumption, so you can have all the ambitions you want with that," Tewfik Hasni, managing director of New Energy Algeria, or NEAL, a company created by the Algerian government in 2002 to develop renewable energy, told the Associated Press last year.

This is why, barring a major technological breakthrough, the economics of solar energy may someday look much like the economics of fossil fuels. Energy security ultimately means more than access to energy; it means access to cheap energy. And like it or not, the Sun Belt has the cheapest solar energy in the world in vast quantities.

"In the same way we are an oil exporter," said Saudi Arabia's Ali al-Nuaimi, "we can also be an exporter of power."

Solar power to fuel Liddell

26/05/2006 11:02:59

By David Bauche

WORK has begun on a new solar farm at Macquarie Gener-ation's Liddell Power Station.

At over 20,000 square metres, the multi-million dollar construction is the size of four football fields will be used to power one of the station's four generator units.

The solar farm stemmed from a research project to ascertain if energy harnessed from the sun could be used to power a traditional coal-fuelled power station.

Started in 2004, the research was a success with results showing the farm could heat the water to the required 285 degrees needed to run the turbine.

The test, using 1300 square metres of mirrors proved that solar energy could be used to supplement the coal, and stage two of the project was commissioned.

Constructed in conjunction with the company Solar Heat and Power the original test project's results made the next stage a viable option at Liddell.

The project will displace coal usage in one of Liddell's four units, harnessing the sun's power to reduce the amount of coal to be burned, and is the first project of its kind in Australia.

The farm will be constructed from special solar mirrors that will reflect the sun's rays to heat the water for the turbine system.

Although not completely replacing coal in the system the amount of coal that will be burned will be reduced.

According to Macquarie Gener-ation's public relations manager Rob Cooper construction at the site is already underway.

Installation of the mirrors has begun with the completion date for the project anticipated to be early 2007.

"Once the farm is integrated into the power station's infrastructure it will begin operation," Mr Cooper said.

The solar farm at Liddell Power Station is the second major renewable energy program in the Singleton district.

The biggest solar energy farm in the southern hemisphere to date was constructed by EnergyAustralia and is located at Whittingham, just south of Singleton.

This 407kW solar farm covers a 2.75 hectare site.

Stage one was commissioned in December 1997 and stage two in 1998. It continues to be owned and operated by EnergyAustralia.