The $A2.5 million project will see five mirrored solar concentrator dishes installed at Windorah, which has a population of 60 and is remote from the electricity grid.

The solar farm, which is designed to power the entire town during sunshine hours, would produce about 35kW of electricity and save about 100,000 litres of diesel fuel per year, according to Ergon corporate communications manager Gaylene Whenmouth.

Whenmouth told EnergyReview.net the trial was part of a company strategy to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels by outback towns.

“There’s 33 remote communities in Queensland that are powered by small, diesel generation systems,” she said.

“But this is proving more expensive as fuel prices continue rising and the emissions mean these systems are not environmentally friendly.”

If the trial is successful, Whenmouth said the company would investigate the possibility of installing solar farms at other towns that are not connected to the grid.

She added that another advantage of the project was that the dishes could be refitted with higher energy efficient cells as solar energy technology continues to improve.

The five mirror dishes, each 13.7m across, concentrate rays from the sun 500 times onto a panel of satellite-quality photo-voltaic (PV) cells, to produce electricity for the town.

While the solar farm is producing power, the town’s diesel generators will be switched off or operate at reduced output. At night, or when there is too much cloud cover, the generators will be brought back online.

Ergon expects the project to be completed by late 2007 or early 2008.