Sunday 16/11/2008 Page: 18
A COMMUNITY group has made its first steps towards achieving an ambitious carbon emissions' target in south-eastern NSW. Clean Energy for Eternity wants "50/50 by 2020" for the region: a 50 per cent cut in energy use and half of the region's energy produced from renewable sources by 2020.The non-profit group, which initially set the target for the Bega Valley Shire, has secured $100,000 from the Federal Government for a feasibility study into building a solar farm in the region. If it is built quickly, the 2 MW solar farm could be Australia's largest, powering up to 1000 hones. Clean Energy for Eternity founder Matthew Nott said he expected the farm to cost up to $8 million. He said he hoped it would be built in 12 months.
"If we build it quickly, it will be the biggest solar farm of any sort in this country, which is pathetic," Dr Nott said. "It's just ridiculous that here we are, a small, not for profit community group, planning to build the biggest solar farm in Australia. "We're not going to wait for politicians to come along and fix this for us. We want to be on the front foot as a region in tackling climate change. We want to be a region showing leadership and showing others how to do it."
The Government will contribute an extra $1 million in matching funds to support the solar farm's construction if it goes ahead. Clean Energy for Eternity includes members from Eurobodalla, Cooma Monaro and Snowy River Shire areas as well as the Bega Valley where it formed in 2006. The group has secured support from councils in the region, with three councils adopting the "50/50 by 2020" target.
It has also raised funds to install wind turbines and solar panels on four of the seven surf clubs in the region. It hopes to make the campaign national, setting up renewable energy on every surf club in the country. Earlier this month, the group and federal Member for Eden-Monaro Mike Kelly held a community forum, demonstrating the progress towards a 50 per cent production of energy from renewable sources. Dr Kelly said he wanted Eden-Monaro to be the "incubator and test bed" for Australia's renewable energy industry.
"We have many more concepts and projects that we're exploring for the region in the areas of biogas and particularly harnessing the methane emissions from our livestock industry," he said. "We have huge potential here for research and development." The Government funding comes the Green Precincts Fund, which supports local communities to better manage their water and energy use for current and future generations.
0 comments:
Post a Comment