| Historical notes: | STATEMENT OF COUNTRY
Aboriginal people have cared for and used these arid lands, ridgelines and waterholes over many thousands of years, reflecting a deep knowledge of sustainable living in an environment of extreme heat, drought and seasonal variability.
Following the arrival of Europeans in White Cliffs in the 1890s, and the subsequent dispossession largely caused by the opal mining industry, the Barkandji people retained cultural connection to the region, resulting in a successful native title claim over the White Cliffs township area. This claim (NCD2015/001) determined that Native Title exists within the claim area and is held by the Barkandji people, as represented by the Barkandji Native Title Group Aboriginal Corporation Registered Native Title Body Corporate.
WHITE CLIFFS
White Cliffs is located 250km north east of Broken Hill and 90km north of Wilcannia. The town was established in the late 19th century when opal was discovered by a group of kangaroo hunters in 1889. By 1890, there was a small settlement and it was named White Cliffs after the white shale that miners had to dig through to find opals (White Cliffs NSW, accessed 2026: SMH, 2009). White Cliffs was the major producer of opal in the world in the earlier 20th century (Rowe, 1997).
White Cliffs holds the Australian record for the most extreme range of temperatures. Rainfall is very low at around 245mm per year. Many of the residents live underground in dugouts to avoid the extreme heat, either by using mining equipment to dig homes in the hillside or by converting old shafts into homes (White Cliffs NSW, accessed 2026).
In 1981, at the time of the White Cliffs Solar Power Station's construction, the township was not grid connected, instead powered by individual private generators (Joseph Sydney Coventry). The 1986 census showed 207 people in 102 households (Australian Bureau of Statistics ,1988).
GROWTH OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN NSW AND AUSTRALIA
In June 1970, the Australia and New Zealand Solar Energy Society (ANZSES) hosted the world's first international solar energy congress in Melbourne. This event is said to have marked Australia's commitment to solar energy research and global collaboration (Leading Edge Energy, 2024). The Solar Photovoltaic (Solar PV) industry began first, with solar PV panels used by Telecom (now Telstra) in 1974 to power remote telecommunication systems (Leading Edge Energy, 2024).
By the early 1970s, there were indications that oil would not be in endless supply, with the 1973 oil crisis greatly increasing petrol prices across the world. Although the crisis occurred largely due to economic and political factors, attention was largely focused on the limitations of oil dependency. This assisted in creating a public acceptance of solar energy that was reflected in increased funding and political acceptance (Robin Tennant-Wood, 2012).
This interest grew throughout the 70s and in 1976, the 'alternative technology movement' began in Australia (Leading Edge Energy, 2024). The movement was centred around growing views that fossil fuels were finite, renewable energy necessary and that, particularly in Australia, solar offered an abundant, clean alternative. (Joseph Sydney Coventry, 2004).
In 1980, commercial solar panels begin to be manufactured in Brookvale and Regents Park in NSW. Italy had built the world's first concentrated solar thermal plant in 1968 and in 1981, the same year as White Cliffs, the United States of America installed a commercial scale plant in California (Purtill, 2023).
It was not until 1993 that the first grid connected solar system is established by the Brunswick Electricity Supply in Melbourne and 1994 that an individual homeowner in Queensland was able to connect their solar panel system to an Australian power grid (Wainright, 2022).
WHITE CLIFFS SOLAR POWER STATION
The Australian National University (ANU) began solar energy research in 1971, led by Stephen Kaneff. Australia's need for electricity was rapidly growing due to the post war economic boom. While the Snowy Hydro Scheme was operational, it was becoming clear that rainfall in the majority of the country was insufficient to make hydro power viable (Dalitz, 2006: Robin Tennant-Wood, 2012).
The dominance of nuclear and coal research meant ANU struggled at first to receive support and funding for its projects and Kaneff turned to other areas of research in the mid-1970s. In 1978, Kaneff was contacted directly by the NSW Government, asking what ANU could do to enhance solar energy immediately. A proposal was put together and very quickly a grant of $800,000for a solar power station to be built in a remote location in NSW was presented to Kaneff and his team (Robin Tennant-Wood, 2012).
Originally, Fowlers Gap (which is closer to Broken Hill) was proposed, but eventually White Cliffs was selected due to its being one of the sunniest environments in NSW (Joseph Sydney Coventry; Robin Tennant-Wood, 2012).
In July 1979, ANU was formally commissioned by the NSW Government to construct a solar thermal power station with commercial application, with the purpose to 'ascertain the feasibility and potential (both technological and economic) for providing electric power in conditions which exist over much of inland, remote areas and off-grid Australia' (Kaneff 1991: Robin Tennant-Wood, 2012).
ANU had been working on dish concentrators since the 1970s and White Cliffs would be the first full scale demonstration of this research and the first solar power station in Australia (Joseph Sydney Coventry, 2004). The system at White Cliffs uses a mirrored, parabolic dish that focuses sunlight onto a central point. The heat is converted to steam which powers a reciprocating engine. The heliostat mounting of the White Cliffs' dishes, along with a motor drive system, allowed them to turn to compensate for the sun's motion (Science Direct, accessed 2026).
ORIGINAL 1981 CONCENTRATED SOLAR THERMAL SYSTEM
The power station comprised 14, five metre diameter, sun tracking parabolic dishes in two rows of seven. Each dish would concentrate the suns rays onto a thermal absorber at its focal point to heat water to produce steam. This steam could then be piped back to a central heat exchanger to power a reciprocating steam engine generator that produced up to 25kW of electricity. Some of this energy was stored in batteries so that the energy could be reserved for night use. A back up diesel generator ensured supply during extended cloudy periods, as White Cliffs was not connected to the power grid in the 1980s. The electricity was reticulated at low voltage, supplying the local hospital, school, post office and twelve homes (Dalitz, 2006).
Due to the experimental nature of the facility, some problems were encountered. In particular, much of the auxiliary equipment consumed electricity themselves, to the extent that these loads sometimes exceeded the output of the electric generator. Through examination of these issues, it was discovered that having a larger plant would solve many of these issues (Dalitz, 2006).
Through White Cliffs Power Station, ANU was able to prove that electricity could be generated from sunlight and supply a remote community and that larger stations, or stations connected to the power grid, would be economically viable (Dalitz, 2006).
1997 PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM
In 1997, the facility was converted to a photovoltaic system by the company Solar Systems. It is at this time that the dishes were resurfaced with new mirror panels and the thermal absorbers were replaced by a cluster of 16 photovoltaic cells which were more than 22% efficient in converting solar radiation directly into electricity. Water circulation was still required at the focal point, this time to cool the cells and maintain their efficiency rather than be heated (Dalitz, 2006).
The energy was fed directly into the electricity grid that was connected to White Cliffs in this year, removing need for batteries or a diesel backup. New software improved the tracking of the dishes by predicting the sun's position and allowed for both local and remote control and monitoring. In its last full year of operation, the power station generated 35,412 kWh of electricity (Dalitz, 2006).
The 1997 adaption of the site also drew upon research from the ANU. With this second system, the White Cliffs Solar Power Station was able to once again demonstrate that an array of sun tracking parabolic dishes could commercially generate electricity. Due to the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target set by the Australian Government in 2001, the energy at White Cliffs was soon able to be sold at a premium (Australian Government Climate Change Authority, 2012: Dalitz, 2006).
The facility was only intended to operate for two years but carried on operating until 2005 with the assistance of locals (Robin Tennant-Wood, 2012). Eventually, the small size of the White Cliffs dishes became a limiting factor for the station and Solar Systems withdrew from the project in 2005 to focus on larger scale dish plants (Dalitz, 2006).
The 1997 system is in situ and in good condition. Remnants of the original thermal system have also been retained on site including the thermal generator, pipe work and battery shells (Dalitz, 2006).
AFTER CLOSURE
In 2006, Engineers Australia declared the site as a National Engineering Heritage Site (Engineers Australia).
Since closing, the White Cliffs Solar Power Station has become a tourism site in White Cliffs. It has also been used for research purposes. The Physics Department at the University of Adelaide has used three of the dishes for gamma ray astronomy at night, replacing the usual solar receivers with special sensors.
The Australian Solar Thermal Research Institute has been focused on research into solar technology using sunlight to generate heat since 2012, working with a number of research institutions across Australia In 2025 researchers at Queensland University of Technology conducted extensive research into the viability of CST systems like the one used at White Cliffs, focusing on the degradation challenges in existing plants (Engineers Australia, 2022: Dalitz, 2006, ASTRI, 2026). Concentrated solar power systems were slightly eclipsed by cheaper forms of renewable energy, like solar panels and wind turbines, in the years after the closure of White Cliffs Solar Power Station. However, the CSIRO predicts that by 2050, this technology will be the cheapest way to store energy for 8-24 hours and so this type of power station may become more prominent again (CSIRO, 2023). |