Regional areas realise the power of renewable energy

Age
Thursday 6/9/2007 Page: 3

SOLAR power earning twice the money on the grid. The number of consumers in Australia buying GreenPower from renewable sources doubling in a year. The first of these two events happened in South Australia, where new laws mean people feeding excess power from their solar panels into the grid will be paid twice the price of its fossil-fuel-generated equal.

It's also interesting to note the slow but inevitable rise in consumers turning to GreenPower - power generated from nationally accredited renewable energy sources. GreenPower's quarterly reports show that in the year to June 30, the number of residential customers buying GreenPower more than doubled, from 281,701 to 565, 977. It is not a big number but it is the growth rate that's worth noting. These developments are signalling a shift to renewable energy that is set to quicken from a gentle flow to a rush as Australia cuts its greenhouse gas emissions.

That's good news for regional communities. The shift to renewables has realised significant economic development opportunities for communities that can see the advantages renewable technologies hold. One example is the biodiesel plant being built at Barnawartha, just out of Wodonga, by a consortium called Biodiesel Producers Pty Ltd. This $50 million investment by ANZ is employing a workforce of about 100. Once completed, it will employ about 30 people in the collection, distillation and distribution of biodiesel made from tallow, waste oils and canola oil.

When La Trobe University's centre for sustainable regional communities and the City of Greater Bendigo began planning a conference to demonstrate the benefits of renewable energy for regional areas, we were inundated with good ideas and examples of projects. It is evident that options such as solar, wind, waste and geothermal-generated energy are creating significant economic development opportunities rather than cutting jobs and business as was once feared. Most importantly, they're helping cut greenhouse gas emissions.

One thing that characterises renewable energy generation is the level of manufacturing it requires for equipment, and the building of the plants. The economic multiplier for similar manufacturing industries is typically twice the initial investment during establishment. Renewable energy projects are especially good for regional Australia because they typically involve lots of smaller plants across the country rather than large, centralised fossil-fuel chewing power plants such as we now have. These smaller plants will help minimise local "brownouts" during high demand, which has happened in recent summers.

And as Australia moves to more cost-reflective pricing in the National Electricity Market, subsidies in place when Victoria's power industry was privatised will be wound back. That's likely to add, by 2020, a further 10 per cent to electricity distribution costs in regional areas. Central Victorian businesses already pay up to 30 per cent more for their electricity distribution costs compared with similar businesses in big metropolitan areas.

Then there are distribution losses. Bendigo, for example, loses 14 per cent of every unit of power generated from power plants in Gippsland. The losses are higher in places further afield such as Mildura. These line losses disadvantage regional businesses. But renewable energy plants such as the $420 million photovoltaic power station to be built near Mildura could reduce line losses and minimise electricity network cost differentials, giving regional areas equal footing when it comes to power costs.

At this stage, there's another economy-boosting component to regional renewable energy projects that should not be overlooked and that's the potential to attract tourists keen to see projects they might adopt in their regions. The proposed $8 million community-owned wind farm near Daylesford, which recently overcame objections, is likely to be a good example. A local community cooperative plans to sell shares to raise money to build the turbine.

After the initial investment and the wind fans is operational, the Hepburn Renewable Energy Association expects people will travel to the area to study its innovative approach. We shouldn't dismiss the tourism offshoot to renewables, for surely this is what happens with early adopters: others flock in to learn how they implemented good ideas. Professor John Martin is the director of La Trobe University's centre for sustainable regional communities and is a co-organiser of the Renewable Energy and Regional Australia Conference in Bendigo on September 16-18.