Protest at final creditors meeting 2.45pm Fri Feb 19 – 600 Bourke St City

Download Protest poster

Solar Systems has been sold to the company Silex, this is a better outcome than liquidation, but concerns remain, we will be protesting to demand:

   

1. Build the Mildura solar power plant now

Not in 2011 as Silex says it may do, but start construction now,

Government must guarantee the full 154 Mwh Mildura solar power plant as a condition of the sale.

2. All Solar Systems working power stations in remote Aboriginal

communities, must be kept running

3. Redundant workers who want their jobs back must be re-employed

4. Redundant employees who have moved on, must be paid their

enitilements,  before PriceWaterhouseCoopers collects its obscene fees

It has been reported PriceWaterhouseCoopers may get a third of the $20 million sale

in fees and repayments for emergency loans.

Protest at final creditors meeting

 

2.45pm (meeting starts 3pm)

 

 

 Fri Feb 19

 

Institute of Chartered Accountants, Level 3, 600 Bourke St City 

Solar Systems sold, but Mildura power plant won’t go ahead before 2011.

BUILD THE MILDURA SOLAR PLANT NOW – Renewable is Do-able!

Company Solar Systems, was to build Australia’s first large scale solar power plant in Mildura. Key investor TRUenergy (which also owns Yallourn brown coal power station and mine) decided not to put more money in without finding further funding partners. This was at the time the financial crisis hit, Solar Systems subsequently went into receivership, making 100 workers redundant.

 The Mildura solar power plant, was planned to power all of Mildura, 45000 homes, and create over 1000 jobs. The Brumby and Rudd governments while promising 125 million between them towards the Mildura solar power plant, have consistently refused to intervene to guarantee it goes ahead.

After a long administration period and several protests by the Save Solar Systems campaign, Solar Systems has now been sold to company Silex.

Concerns remain

The sale of Solar Systems is a better outcome than liquidation, but concerns remain. Silex is a company involved with the nuclear industry and uranium enrichment, their media release promotes nuclear power, which is deadly and not a solution to climate change.

Will the Mildura solar plant still be built and if so when? Silex media release states: Following completion of the acquisition, Silex will conduct a 12 to 18 month technology commercialization program in parallel with business development and marketing activities, with the aim of commencing commercial project activities in 2011. This program could then lead to the construction of a 2MW pilot facility in Mildura (potentially a precursor to a -150MW power station).

While government says $125 million remains on the table, 2011 is after both state and federal elections. The Mildura power plant should be a condition of sale, construction should start now. Climate change means renewable energy has become an essential service. Government must guarantee the Mildura Solar Power plant is built. This should be just the start of a transition to 100% renewable energy. Despite the threat of abrupt climate change, the market has failed to deliver; renewable energy in Australia is only around 6% of total electricity supply. It was government that built all existing coal fired power stations, government must take responsibility for the transition to renewable energy.

The CPRS won’t work

The federal government says we should rely on their version of carbon trading, the CPRS. Yet this is a con, carbon trading is further reliance on the market to solve market failure. Treasury modeling shows it wont reduce Australian emissions before 2035, and even that is assuming “clean coal” works. The CPRS will see the biggest polluters – brown coal, black coal, gas, oil and aluminum, get billions of dollars in handouts, and windfall profits from sale of free permits. After 5 years in Europe, carbon trading has clearly failed.

Building large scale renewable power stations would reduce emissions, but carbon pricing can’t guarantee they are built. We need government policy that starts building now – not just Mildura, but renewable energy across Australia.

The money is there

The federal government showed how government can act in crisis – the stimulus package did help temporarily stabilise the Australian economy, but an opportunity to develop large scale clean energy industries, creating tens of thousands of jobs was squandered. The federal government will spend $36 billion for new submarines for Defence, buying one less could build 11 Mildura solar power plants. The state government is directly spending $363 million on an upgrade to the Melbourne Tennis Centre – thats almost the $420 million asking price of the Mildura plant. We have nothing against tennis, but what matters more, a game of tennis, or the planet on which it is played?

Protest Jan 23 – Build The Mildura Solar Power Plant

pdf file: rally23rd

Updated Fact Sheet

The administration period for Solar Systems has been extended to Feb 17, but there is a big risk of liquidation. Come to our protest 12.00pm, January 23 Parliament House to demand that the government guarantees the Mildura solar power plant goes ahead.

 

 

Solar Systems Fact Sheet

l                       The building of the first large-scale solar power plant in Australia is in doubt after its owner, Solar Systems, declared that due to lack of private investment, the company faces collapse.

l                       John Brumby said in parliament on 25^th November “we have $50 million on the table for the Mildura solar project which I am confident will be delivered.”, but Solar Systems has not been sold as a going concern and Brumby wont step in to guarantee delivery. Kevin Rudd has been posing on climate in Copenhagen, but will not commit to Australia’s first large scale solar power plant. Spain has 3000 MW of solar power installed,  Australia with vastly more solar potential, has 115 MW. Rudd’s proposed carbon trading legislation, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) will not build the Mildura solar power plant.

SSS campaign end of year party

Our last meeting for the year will be an opportunity to catch up for drinks on Thursday, 17 December at Tsubu bar, The University of Melbourne. PriceWaterhouseCoopers has announced that the administration decision will be made public on 14 December. We will be discussing where to take this campaign after a conclusion has been reached on Solar Systems. All are welcome. Here are the details:

When: Thursday 17 December 2009
Where: Tsubu Bar in the 1888 Building, The University of Melbourne. 169 Grattan St. (near the intersection of Bouverie St.) Enter from either Swanston or Grattan street.

The Age – news story on Save Solar Systems

Save Solar Systems was featured in a story in yesterday’s Sunday Age (29 November).

Chris Breen and David Turner from the campaign were quoted in the following exerpt:

”Save Solar Systems” campaign spokesman Chris Breen said organisers wanted the Government to immediately intervene to guarantee that the company’s Abbotsford factory would remain open, the redundant workers reinstated and the solar power plant built.

”We want the Government to step in and do whatever it takes to make the Mildura solar power plant happen,” Mr Breen said.

”If Solar Systems folds, no other company in Australia currently has the technological capability to build the plant. If we don’t get large-scale renewable energy there, then when and where will we get it?”

One sacked worker, Diamond Creek engineer David Turner, is relying on the Government to ensure the plant goes ahead so he can get his job back. ”We knew the company was trying to raise money but we didn’t think the situation was so dire,” he said. ”The point is the technology is here and we just need a bit more willpower to get it over the line.”

The article also mentions our public meeting to be held this Thursday 3 December, from 6:30 pm at Fitzroy Town Hall. This will be the last opportunity to have your say about the future of Solar Systems before the administrators make their decision on what will happen to the company and the 154 MW Mildura power plant.

Sign on to save Solar Systems

If you are new to our campaign or have yet to have your say about the Solar Systems collapse, go here to sign the Save Solar Systems online petition.

Register your support if you agree to any of the following points.

The government must:

1. Commit to building the 154MW new solar technology power plant in Mildura ASAP.
2. Ensure that local, world-leading, proven, innovative, utility scale concentrated photovoltaic technological capability and intellectual property is a step in Australia’s transition to a low-carbon future.
3. Guarantee the long-term viability of the existing operational Solar System power plants in remote indigenous communities.

Next event: Public Meeting

RSVP on the Facebook event profile here, or join our Facebook group here.

Next campaign events + fact sheet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 solar systems fact sheet

•  
  • The building of the first large-scale solar power plant in Australia is in doubt after its owner, Solar Systems, declared that due to lack of private investment, the company faces collapse.
  • Over 100 Solar Systems workers have already been made redundant. They are owed $4 million in entitlements.
  • A new production line (near completion) capable of producing hundreds of solar receivers per week, has been installed in the $23 million Abbotsford factory. Each receiver is capable of powering 30 – 50 homes.
  • Solar Systems had the contract to build the Mildura power plant. Construction would have provided around 950 green jobs and there would have been around 50 permanent green jobs running the plant. In addition, thousands of extra jobs would be reinforced in a wide variety of component making fields.
  • The Mildura solar power plant would have powered 45,000 homes (the entire Mildura region) and saved 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas per year. Siting the power station near where power is used would reduce transmission loss of 15% from the Latrobe Valley to Northern Victoria. Solar power has the benefit of peak power on hot sunny days, which coincides with high electricity demand. Storage solutions using hydrogen are being developed for night time power.
  • No other company in Australia has the new solar technological capacity to build the Mildura plant if Solar Systems doesn’t. Solar Systems is the world leader in concentrated photo-voltaic solar power. Its photovoltaic solar receivers are 36% efficient compared with 15% efficiency on standard household solar panels, with this efficiency had been increasing by about one percent each year.
  • $125 million was pledged to the project both from the federal government and the state government. Only $500,000 has been delivered to Solar Systems. The first milestone of the project—to build a 140-kilowatt demonstration field—was achieved on time in October last year. The rest of the funds are tied to milestones when the power station ramps up to full output in 2011 and 2013. The whole project was expected to cost roughly $420 million
  • The 3 other proposed solar projects planned for Australia are based on the same funding model, of private sector run with around one third government funding, these could easily face simlar funding problems. The Solar Systems Mildura project is by far the most advanced proposal to date. If not this project, and this factory, then when and where will the first large scale solar power plant be built in Australia?
  • Solar Systems has built functioning power systems in three remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. Together they save 420,000 litres of diesel and 1550 tonnes of greenhouse emissions each year. They have also removed the need for daily journeys to buy diesel in some of the most disadvantaged communites in Australia. The future of these plants is in doubt if Solar Systems is liquidated.
  • What is the campaign demanding? We demand that the government immediately intervenes to guarantee (i) that the Solar Systems factory in Abbotsford remains open, (ii) that the redundant workers are reinstated and, (iii) that a large scale solar power plant is built in Mildura.

“Dark day for solar” – article on Eureka Street

Australian website Eureka Street has published an article by Greg Foyster which details the hypocrisy of the Government’s refusal to offer financial backing to Solar Systems. The article raises several examples of companies that the Government has bailed out following financial collapse, including fossil fuel and industrial smelter companies.

The Government’s position is eloquently summed up in the following quote, excerpted from Foyster’s article:

Our politicians suffer from a sort of carbon-induced myopia. Their obsession with digging up fossilised carbon blinds them to our nation’s other abundant energy resource: sunlight.

Obsession? Blinded? Seems like there’s another layer of Government hypocrisy going on here, given that Federal MP Lindsay Tanner is on the record for saying that greenies are “obsessed” with solar energy.

Have your say about the issues at the next Save Solar Systems action, where we will be protesting outside Lindsay Tanner’s Melbourne office during the week when the CPRS will be debated in parliament.

When: 12:30 pm Monday 16 November
Where: Lindsay Tanner’s office, 280 King Street, Melbourne 3000