Government denies scrapping solar town

The state government says it remains committed to a project to make a northwest Queensland town the first in the state to completely rely on solar technology.

Almost three years after the $7 million Cloncurry solar thermal trial was announced, only $900,000 has been invested in the project to investigate a new way to store solar energy using graphite.

However, Energy Minister Stephen Robertson said the state government was awaiting an update from contractors, which would inform future investment in the project.

"At this stage there are difficulties with the technology but by allowing the project to continue we can gain a full understanding of the potential of this particular technology," he said.

He said initial advice from the contractor indicated that the technology did not appear to be economically viable.

"However it would be irresponsible to pull up stumps before we have all the necessary information to make a fully informed decision," he said.

"We expect an update from the contractor, Lloyd Energy, in the coming months to provide the level of information needed to make this decision.

"If it doesn't stack up we will invest the remaining funding in an alternative solar project for Cloncurry."

Liberal National Party Leader John-Paul Langbroek said the solar power project at Cloncurry was just the latest in a litany of environmental failures under Labor.

"At the last state election, Anna Bligh promised 200,000 low cost solar water heaters for Queensland households but that evaporated after the federal Labor government scrapped their rebate scheme," he said.

"Similarly, a vehicle green offsets program announced with great fanfare last year has stalled due to a lack of interest."

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