| The federal coalition says its enthusiasm for solar energy has changed dramatically, mainly because of technical know-how advances on the issue of energy storage.
The opposition's environment spokesman, Greg Hunt, says there have been "enormous breakthroughs" on storage capacity.
That had prompted a contrasting attitude now to that of the former Howard coalition government which did not believe solar power could contribute to baseload energy output - the sort needed for the national power grid.
Mr Hunt has been spruiking the opposition's vision of Australia becoming the first solar continent.
"I think the science is moving very quickly," Mr Hunt told ABC Radio.
"What we see is the big problem for solar was storage. We're now seeing things such as chemical energy storage being developed.
"There are enormous breakthroughs in this storage capacity."
The technical world had moved on and it needed to be recognised and embraced, Mr Hunt said.
"To say, here's a vision for something quite dramatic and big.
"This idea of a solar continent is the framework and our task now is to fit in the pieces.
"I think solar baseload is possible. It will happen within our lives."
Mr Hunt says one aspect of the plan is for shorter-term energy.
"It's about helping with the peak needs and that's where solar panels or photovoltaic panels come in.
"We see that happening on three fronts, through solar homes, solar schools and solar cities.
"The second big part, which is in a way the very exciting part, is solar baseload, and that's often known as solar thermal power.
"This is the long-term, base energy for your system."
Solar-generated power would not replace the need to clean up coal and gas-fired power stations, Mr Hunt said.
But those power stations could be cleaned up and done so in an effective way. | 