John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to make three comments about the inquiry and the report. I was fortunate enough to go to the Liddell power station last week, where they have a solar-thermal project in place to assist in the production of steam to run the four turbines. There are 30,000 square metres of mirrors at a cost of $16 million. You would think that, if you invested $16 million, it would be a great contribution for the steam pressure to drive the turbines. What are the problems with it? The first is keeping the mirrors clean. There is a lot of dust in that area. Of course they are very happy when the rain comes to clean the mirrors. They clean the mirrors with a machine to try and get some more effect.

Remember that figure: $16 million. We said to them, 'How much does this save you as far as burning coal?' The chap said, 'Around 3,000 tonnes a year.' I said: 'What is that on percentage?' He said, 'That is one-quarter of one per cent of what one turbine uses.' I said, 'In other words, it is one-sixteenth of one per cent of what you burn with Loy Yang power station a year? It is $16 million to save one-sixteenth of one per cent. What a waste of $16 million. We could have done a lot with that for hospitals or somewhere else around the bush.'