State's green power surge

Adelaide Advertiser
Friday 14/9/2007 Page: 3

SOUTH Australia has recorded the biggest growth in the nation in green power consumption in the past year. The number of SA households and businesses which have subscribed to electricity produced by renewable sources, such as wind energy or solar power, has doubled since June 2006. During the same period the number of megawatt hours consumed which has been generated by green power has more than tripled.

The use of renewable sources - which unlike coalfired electricity plants, do not emit greenhouse gas emissions - will save 24,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases each year. It is equal to taking 3400 cars off the road. Conservation Council of South Australia chief executive Julie Pettet said it was "absolutely fantastic" that the state led the nation. "Renewables and the need for renewables is consistently on the radar," she said.

"As a state, I think we are in many aspects environmentally friendly in a crisis and what that does, especially on the stage of energy and water, is get people to look at what their part in it is." She said the large amount of wind and solar energy produced in SA, which has the greatest number of wind farms in Australia, also encouraged local residents to subscribe.

Origin Energy retail general manager Phil Craig said subscription of green energy plans had increased exponentially since it became available 10 years ago. "In the last 12 to 18 months, the issue of climate change, linked with the drought, has become so important in people's minds," he said. "People are looking at their energy consumption and green energy products have started to make more sense." In SA, 36,095 households and businesses subscribed to green electricity, consuming 6940 megawatt hours, at the end of the June quarter, 2006.

This year, 63,791 households and businesses were buying green power, consuming 23,694 megawatt hours. Western Australia had the nation's second largest consumption growth in the past year, purchasing 2.5 times as much green power as it did in the previous year. New South Wales and Victoria both consumed 1.6 times as much green power in June as they did at the same time last year.

Frewville resident Kurt Riebe, 41, has subscribed to green power because he and his daughters Esther, 10, and Harriet, 7, are concerned about the environment. "We saw that it was one way of reducing our impact on the environment and Origin Energy was able to provide us with a green gas plan as well as green electricity, so we have covered all our energy needs," he said.