Carnarvon Solar given little credit

Northern Guardian
Wednesday 21/2/2007 Page: 3

THE Carnarvon Solar Farm cannot trade its carbon credits overseas because of the Federal Government policy on the Kyoto Protocol.

Federal Member Barry Haase, who represents the Gascoyne in the Australian Parliament, said profitable industries and making money were more important to people than the "hype" of climate change. "People are not as concerned with buzz-words like "global warming" and "climate change" as they are with making a quid," Mr Haase said.

It was hardly surprising the Carnarvon Solar Farm was the largest privately owned electricity generator of its type in Australia, he said. "This suggests that without government subsidies, solar farms, like wind farms, would not be profitable," Mr Haase said. "They are being subsidised with tax-payers' money." Carnarvon Solar Farm founding owner Lex Fullarton said the primary source of income for the solar power station was selling its electricity to Horizon Power.

He said if the Government ratified the Kyoto Protocol and put in place the enabling legislation, Australia's carbon credits could be sold offshore. "Australia essentially has a carbon trading system though the Office of Renewable Energy," he said. "But we can only trade these certificates within Australia." The Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act was introduced in 2000 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Under the Renewable Energy Act, operators of fossil fuel power stations of 100mW capacity or more were required to hand up Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) or face fines. Renewable energy power stations received RECs for the power they produced from the Office of Renewable Energy. Non-renewable, or fossil fuel energy producers bought their RECs from renewable energy producers.

The Carnarvon Solar Farm was banking on the price of RECs going up, Mr Fullarton said. "We are taking the risk that Australia will sign Kyoto, and we will be able to sell these certificates to Japan," he said.

Prime Minister John Howard said last week he would not ratify the Protocol because it would damage Australian industry. He was responding in Parliament to a question from Mr Haase on the effect ratifying Kyoto would have on the mining industry in his electorate of Kalgoorlie. "In responding to climate change, no rational government would enter into an arrangement that reduced the competitiveness of Australian industry," Mr Howard said.

Australia and the U.S. were the only two countries that signed the Kyoto Protocol but refused to ratify it. Australia and the U.S. were also the highest per capita emitters of greenhouse gases in the world.