Sorry for my increasingly rare presence here of late - I've become overly busy at work (so much for my 4 day week, which didn't last long), and my personal life has had a few complications to manage as well.

Given that solar thermal power is pretty much my favourite form of renewable energy and the one I consider to make the greatest contribution to our energy needs in the long term, I can't let the weekend's announcement by PM Rudd about a plan to build a 1 GW power plant go past unnoticed.

Reuters reports the new solar power plant is part of efforts to achieve the new 20% mandatory renewable energy target - Australia to build world's largest solar energy plant: PM. More at Bloomberg.

Australia plans to build the world's largest solar power station with an output of 1000 megawatts in a A$1.4 billion (US$1.05 billion) investment, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Sunday. The plant would have three times the generating capacity of the current biggest solar-powered electricity plant, which is in California, Rudd said during a tour of a power station.

Tender details will be announced later in the year, and successful bidders will be named in the first half of 2010. Rudd said the project was aimed at exploiting the country's ample sunshine, which he called "Australia's biggest natural resource." It was also aimed at helping the country become a leader in renewable, clean energy, he said. ...