Australia has set aside a budget of A$4.65billion to spend on a clean energy initiative and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced that A$1.4billion of that is to be spent on what will be the world’s largest solar power station. This 1000-megawatt plant will be three times larger than the current biggest, which is in California.

Applications for tender will be open later in the year with the successful bids being known in the early part of 2010. The project will eventually lead to a network of solar power stations that takes in Australia’s sunniest spots as well as the current national grid.

Australia currently gets around 85% of its energy from coal, so this new move is being seen as a positive step towards a greener future.

Mr Rudd said: “Why are we doing this? We are doing it in order to support a clean energy future for Australia, we’re doing it to boost economic activity now and we’re doing it also to provide jobs and much needed opportunities for business as well.”

Australia is also set to become a full member of the International Renewable Energy Agency. IRENA currently has more than 80 countries signed up and the organisation is set to hold its first meeting in June.

This news comes in the same week that Pennsylvania governors announced that anyone in the state installing solar technologies will be rewarded with 45% off the price.

After 53,451 kilometres, 18 long months and more than 50 countries, Swiss inventor Louis Palmer has finally finished his long drive home.

Palmer, 36, has now become the first person to drive around the world fuelled solely by solar power. His blue and white three-wheeler taxi, although not yet available for mass production, has confirmed scientist’s long-held beliefs that solar energy can replace our dependence on fossil fuels. In fact, the solar energy and design of the vehicle was so successful that the car reached speeds of just under 60mph (90km/h) and only two days of the journey were given to repairs.

Palmer has managed to create quite a media stir during his trip around the world having picked up a host of notable figures along the way. Jay Leno, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Monaco’s Prince Albert were part of a group of more than 1000 ‘hitchhikers’ that Palmer picked up during his trip across the planet.

Palmer’s next trip will be to travel around the world in 80 days using only solar energy although his next car might need to be able to reach speeds of more than 60mph in order to make this a reality.