The ACT government will call for expressions of interest to find sites for a next-generation solar farm capable of producing more energy than the three other solar projects already planned for the territory combined.
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Environment Minister Simon Corbell wants a 50-megawatt solar farm that can store solar energy for use at night or at times of little sun. He is looking to new technologies such as the ''big-dish'' technology being developed at the Australian National University - which concentrates solar energy.
Last week, Mr Corbell announced a swath of new auctions for renewable energy projects, most of them for wind farms in the region, with bids to be called later in the year. Successful projects get a guaranteed feed-in tariff for 20 years.
The move is designed to allow the government to reach its target of 90 per cent of energy from renewable sources within six years, and he is expected to roll out more announcements in the coming days and weeks.
Mr Corbell has already given the green light to three large-scale solar projects in the territory - one being built near Tuggeranong, and the others in development for Mugga Lane and Uriarra. The three will generate a total of 40MW of solar power using the current photovoltaic cell technology.
The newly announced project is to generate 50MW of solar power alone. Mr Corbell said he would ask companies to nominate potential sites for the next-generation solar farm. With those details pinned down, companies would be asked to bid on the project next year.
The next-generation technologies could include photovoltaic, but also newer technologies, and a key was solar farms that could store energy.
''With storage, we will further reduce our reliance on fossil fuel because we can harness solar power and dispatch it into the grid at times when it's not always viable for renewables to deliver, such as at night,'' he said. ''Storage further diversifies our electricity grid and makes it more reliable, more resilient and less reliant on coal-fired generation.''
The project would also build on work being done at the ANU.
''This is a rapidly emerging area of technology so this is designed to make sure that the ACT takes advantage of some of our natural strengths around research in this area,'' Mr Corbell said.
Also last week, he announced a household-scale solar scheme, in which Canberrans would be invited to invest in community solar programs.
