The South Australian state government has announced that it will support the building of a 150-megawatt solar thermal power station in Port Augusta. Once home to a coal-fired station, Port Augusta has had civil-society groups campaigning for a renewable-energy development for years. A particular benefit of solar thermal infrastructure is its ability to produce ‘dispatchable’ energy, which means – contrary to the claims of fossil fuel apologists – that it will be able to send electricity to the grid even when the sun isn't shining. (See December NI 508
for a full report.)
‘Daylighting’ – a process that brings underground rivers to the surface in cities – has recently been successfully tried out in Sheffield, UK. It’s part of a growing trend across the world, from Auckland to Zurich, to create new streams and little green oases for those who live and work nearby. But daylighting isn’t just there to make things look nice, it also means more space to catch run-off water during flash floods. It’s a logical, environmental response to one of the many perils of climate change.
