Australian solar thermal power company Vast Renewables has executed key engineering contracts with Afry, FYFE, Primero and Worley to complete Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) on its VS1 project.
Related article: Vast awards VS1 engineering contract to Worley
VS1 is a 30MW/288MWh CSP plant to be located in Port Augusta, South Australia. Utilising Vast’s proprietary modular tower CSP v3.0 technology, VS1 will generate clean, low-cost, dispatchable power with over 8 hours of thermal energy storage.
The announcement follows Vast’s appointment in May 2023 of Worley and its specialist consulting division, Worley Consulting, to complete VS1 basic engineering. FEED is expected to be completed by August ahead of a Final Investment Decision in Q3 2024 and construction starting in late 2024.
Vast CEO Craig Wood said, “This is a major step forward for Vast and VS1, putting this historic CSP project on the path to construction. Afry, FYFE, Primero and Worley will bring the right combination of global and local expertise to VS1, which will utilise our industry-leading technology to capture and store the sun’s energy during the day before generating heat and dispatchable power during the day or night.”
Vast’s proprietary CSP v3.0 technology has received significant support from the Australian Government, including the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), announcing it has approved up to AUD$65 million in funding to support the construction of VS1.
VS1 will be co-located with Solar Methanol 1 (SM1), a world-first green methanol demonstration plant. In February, Vast, along with its consortium partner, announced that they signed funding agreements to receive AUD$19.48 million and EUR13.2 million from a collaboration between the Australian and German governments, respectively.
Related article: EDF Australia and Vast to partner on concentrated solar
SM1 will use zero-emissions dispatchable electricity and heat from VS1 to produce green methanol for use as a sustainable shipping fuel.
