Adelaide Advertiser
Monday 3/9/2007 Page: 66
ORIGIN Energy is thinking of buying wind farms but says a shift to renewable energy potentially could push up electricity bills by 20 per cent. Chief executive Grant King said yesterday Origin, Australia's second-biggest energy retailer, might bid for wind farms put up for sale by the Queensland Government.
Origin currently offers wind and solar products to its customers but has to buy the energy from other suppliers. Wind farms were generally much more highly geared than Origin's balance sheet, Mr King told ABC-TV. "So whether we put them on our balance sheet or let them sit on someone else's balance sheet is a capital-structure issue and an efficiency-of-capital issue," he said.
The Federal Government plans to launch a carbon-trading scheme in 2011 and is expected to set an emissions target and a carbon price some time next year. Mr King agreed a carbon price of $20 to $30 a tonne would make coal expensive enough to trigger a shift to natural gas. However, for a shift to renewables, Mr King said a carbon price of $50 to $60 would be required and that would imply a hefty price increase for customers.
0 comments:
Post a Comment