Clean Power At Risk As Target Reached

The Sunday Times, Page: 6
Sunday, 5 March 2006

BILLIONS of dollars of clean power plants might never be built because Australia is ahead of schedule achieving its green energy targets of just 1 per cent. In New South Wales alone, there are 16 wind plants worth $2.4 billion awaiting planning permission, with three more already approved. Together, they would power almost 500, 000 homes and save 4.6 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses a year - the equivalent of taking a million cars off the road.

While no dollar figures were available for WA, the state has more windfarms than any other - 13 in operation and 11 on the way. This compares with six in Victoria, with another 21 planned; five in South Australia, with 24 planned; four in Tasmania, with six planned; and two in Queensland, with four planned. These combined projects would boost Australia's wind-power capacity more than tenfold - from 618MW to 6457MW - or enough to power almost 1.5 million homes.

Hydro-electric, solar and biomass plants are also at risk because Australia has almost met its renewable-energy target of 1 per cent of all power, four years ahead of schedule. Despite their increasing efficiency, wind turbines need government support to compete with cheap fossil-fuel power. Without an increase in the Federal Government-imposed target, industry figures say many of the projects will not be viable. Under the target scheme, renewable-energy producers are entitled to tradeable certificates for every kilowatt hour of clean energy they produce.

Traditional energy producers are obliged to fill a renewable-energy quota by buying certificates, accounting for about half the income of renewable energy producers. When the 1 per cent target is reached extra certificates generated from new renewable sources will become worthless. SA has its own target of 20 per cent renewable energy over the next 10 years - the most ambitious target so far. WA's target is 6 per cent by 2010- with an increased target mooted for 2020 - while Victoria will soon introduce a 10 per cent target over 10 years.

There are hopes NSW and other states will do the same, but the Government has refused to meet the industry's request for a national target of 5 per cent. In fact, WA's own target could be jeopardised by a lack of federal funding - though this hasn't happened yet, according to WA Energy Minister Francis Logan. ''While no renewable energy projects in WA have been delayed to date due to Australia already meeting its federal target, there is potential for this to occur, '' he said. Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell recently wrote to the WA Government calling for a ''national code'' for windfarms, and threatened to withhold funds without one.

Australia's climate makes it an ideal testing ground for solar technology and wind-energy generation. Engineer-turned-entrepreneur Colin Leibman, whose company Southern Cross Wind Power is trying to build a $233 million wind farm near Goulburn, New South Wales, said January's Asia-Pacific climate conference held little of value for the renewable sector. Mr Leibman said the Government's commitment to spend $100 million developing clean-energy technology would not help because the sector needed economic incentives, not research money. ''For people in the industry, it's very disappointing, '' he said.

Wind power could also bring income to drought-ravaged farmlands, while easing pressure on local environments by reducing the intensity of farming. But Senator Campbell believed the existing renewable- energy target was enough to keep the industry growing. ''The mandatory renewableenergy target has been highly successful in kick-starting wider deployment of renewables, '' a spokeswoman for the minister said. ''The Government is always open to innovative ideas for taking the Energy White Paper framework forward, from the renewable energy industry and other industry groups.

''But the Australian Wind Energy Association is confident things will improve. ''Pressure for increased renewable power is building all the time, '' a spokeswoman said.