Ausra Australia is preparing to announce new deals worth more than $1 billion to build large solar power plants in at least two Australian states.

The company has been working with state and federal governments very closely in the last six to nine months in particular, as well as the mining industry, which is leading the way in interest in off-grid applications, Ausra Australia chief executive Bob Matthews told theage.com.au. 

As per the information available, one of those power plants is likely to use a combination of solar thermal and gas to provide 24-hour baseload electricity to power a remote mining operation. The other is likely to feed extra power into the national electricity grid.

In the same report, Matthews called for stronger national policies in Australia, particularly a gross feed-in tariff and loan guarantees, which are driving new investment in countries such as Germany and the United States.

"That's what they're doing elsewhere in the world and that's what really needs to happen here too," he said.

On the positive side, it was recently announced that The Energy Innovation Fund is to provide $100 million for the establishment of the Australian Solar Institute. The Institute's national headquarters will be located in Newcastle, New South Wales. The majority of the Institute's research funding will be allocated through a competitive grants programme. A smaller proportion of research funding will be provided to core Institute projects and activities. The Institute's competitive grants programme will be designed to encourage any Australian researcher in solar photovoltaic and concentrating solar thermal technologies to apply for funding. This includes researchers from the public and private sectors.