Wentworth Shire Council is committed to securing the solar tower project for the municipality and the region.

Former Mayor, Cr Don McKinnon, predicts the project will "be the making of this region".

"There is no doubt a project of this size will put our area indelibly on the world map and have a myriad of positive benefits," he said.

"This will be a project to rival the Snowy Mountain Scheme," he said.

Current Mayor, Cr Warren Ward agrees. "There are so many positives for this region attached to this project," he said.

"It is just the type of large, infrastructure project this country needs to get enthused about.

"It will generate world-wide interest and give us something to be proud of.

"We will extend every possible assistance to EnviroMission to ensure it goes ahead in our region."

Construction of the world's largest solar-powered electric generating plant could begin on Tapio Station as soon as January 2003.

EnviroMission, the Australian company seeking to undertake the mammoth project, has committed to Tapio Station as it's preferred Australian site and owns the exclusive Australian licence to the revolutionary German technology that can generate 200MW of clean, green renewable energy for about 200,000 households.

More than $US37 million has already been invested to prove the viability of 'Solar Tower' technology through research and development, pilot plant operations and feasibility studies for commercial plant construction.

The figures for the project itself are equally impressive. The tower complex cost, without attendant infrastructure, is estimated at $700 million; the tower will be one kilometre high - the tallest man-made structure on Earth and incorporate 700,000 cubic metres of concrete; the accompanying 'green house' will have a radius of 3.5 kilometres, cover about 10,000 hectares and require 38 million square metres of covering.

The project is expected to generate 2700 jobs, many of them for local laborers, during the 34-month construction phase and provide between 15 and 40 ongoing jobs.

EnviroMission said the project would also have many spin-off benefits, not least will be tourism, both domestic and international.

The company revealed it already has ideas about maximising the potential of the tower to generate tourist dollar income including a very fast lift system to take daring visitors to the very top of the tower where a viewing platform could be integrated as part of the final design.

The Mayor has promised EnviroMission the Shire will do everything in its power to assist in the next phase of its push for the tower - stimulating State and Federal Government interest and support while overcoming any impediments.