Pilbara sunlight could be sold to world

Western Australia's Pilbara is known for its massive mining riches but the hot sunlight beating down on the region could also be sold overseas, a new study has found.

Exporting solar energy from the Pilbara to the southeast Asia is technically viable and a large-scale project could create up to 2,000 jobs in the region and 12,000 in the state, a WA Government pre-feasibility study found.

The study developed a scenario detailing the cost to build a three-gigawatt solar farm and transmission undersea cable from the Pilbara to Indonesia.

The Pilbara has one of the highest levels of direct sunlight - or solar irradiance - on the planet and was identified by the International Energy Agency as one of the top six locations to develop large-scale solar farms.

The study found other competitive advantages in the Pilbara such as land availability, industrial infrastructure, proximity to Asia and existing investment links, making it well placed to supply an efficient and reliable power source to meet rapidly growing demand from Southeast Asia.

Falling solar energy costs would make the commercial case for connection to Indonesia within five to 10 years, according to the study, which was released at the New Pilbara Economic Development Conference on Tuesday.

"Exporting solar energy to Asia has the potential to be a valuable addition to the Pilbara's existing energy mix and would stimulate new economic activity, creating thousands of permanent jobs in the region," Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan said.