Vast Solar says it is on the way to creating dozens of new jobs

Vast Solar has announced the successful design, manufacture and test of its next-generation heliostats and solar receivers at its Goodna, Queensland prototype facility, in a development it says will precede “full-scale manufacturing plants in Australia that will employ dozens of skilled workers.”

In a statement on Thursday, the company – which has sites under development at Port Augusta and Mount Isa that will use its  concentrated solar thermal power products – said the new components will be made at scale at a factory in Queensland “in partnership with leading global auto-industry” companies.

CEO Craig Wood said the planned gigafactory was “a big step forward” for the company and for  the nation’s ambitions to grow a clean energy manufacturing industry.

“Our technology will be deployed in all sunny countries around the world to generate clean, low-cost, reliable energy, and we are keen to [manufacture] it locally,” said Wood. 

“CSP is an industry in which Australia genuinely has the potential to be a world leader, and getting manufacturing up and running will ensure we don’t lose out to overseas competitors who are rapidly developing their CSP capabilities.”

Vast Solar was established in 2009 and according to its website specialises in “novel heat collection and transfer technologies, along with integrated storage” for dispatchable energy, as well as associated technologies such as control systems.

The news follows Vast Solar’s part in a recently-funded project in the US developing concentrated solar power technology. The US Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office awarded $US 2.3 million earlier this month to a consortium led by Solar Dynamics.

Pictured: Vast Solar’s prototype facility (supplied)