Courier Mail
Monday 22/6/2009 Page: 9
QUEENSLAND could be home to a major solar energy station capable of powering hundreds of thousands of homes under a new green energy plan. The Bligh Government yesterday revealed a $1 million feasibility study would examine building a baseload solar energy plant covering up to 25sq km and generating between 500 and 750 MWs.
The move forms part of the Queensland Renewable Energy Plan, a blueprint for the state to achieve national targets to increase alternative energy use from 6 to 20% by 2020. The plan suggests $3.5 billion of investment could be attracted while 3500 new jobs were created in the next decade.
It also includes a plan to legislate to allow farmers to sublease land to windfarms and other green energy alternatives. The power station feasibility study, conducted as a joint effort with former US president Bill Clinton's Clinton Foundation, will assess the size, location and cost of building the project.
Energy Minister Stephen Robertson yesterday said the location of the plant could be problematic because of its size but he insisted it was crucial to look for alternatives. "You are talking about setting aside areas of perhaps 5km by 5km of land mass for rolling out solar thermal lines," Mr Robertson said. "(The location needs to have the) most amount of sun and also (be) close to existing transmission lines so the cost of feed-in is kept as tow as possible."
WWF climate change policy manager Kelly Caught welcomed the plan but wanted an incentive scheme such as a feed-in tariff for geothermal and solo thermal energy use. "We're a bit concerned the plan relies heavily on the Federal Government's renewable energy target and the scheme at the moment does not support geothermal or solar thermal energy," Ms Caught said.
Premier Anna Bligh said she expected the plant would be largely funded by the private sector but wanted Queensland to win federal funds out of a solar plant fund recently announced. She said smaller renewable power plants would be rolled out in remote regions. "I want Queensland to be the renewable energy powerhouse of Australia," Ms Bligh said. "That is going to unlock investment in renewable energy to meet that demand and, in turn, a new green jobs sector."
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Premier Anna Bligh announced regulatory reforms, more action by state-owned energy utilities and a push to prepare 'clean energy plans' for major residential and commercial developments as part of a plan to generate 2,635MW from clean energy by 2020. This has raised a number of questions regarding the intentions of these initiatives. These questions are the following:
1. What types of GHG will this program reduce? And at what volumes?
2. What are the penalties for not reducing the projected levels of GHG and generation of renewable energy?
3. In regards to GHG reduction initiatives for this program how do the initiatives compare to world best practice and with the McKinnsey strategy?
4. What measures are being taken by the Queensland Government to establish a gross-feed-in-tariff?
5. What mechanisms will the Queensland Government be providing for the market to determine the priority for efficient types of renewable energy technologies by a gross-feed-in-tariff?
6. What will be the amount state budget is on energy efficiency? How much will energy efficiency reduce GHG?
7. To achieve a 300 and 350-millimetre level of GHG what would be Queensland GHG emission? How will this be achieved?
8. Has the Queensland Government undertaken a McKinnsey analysis of energy efficiency and renewable energy at 300 and 350 millimetres?
9. What funds are being spent from this budget on reforming the National Energy Grid from being an energy maximiser?
10. What funds are being allocated for the development of a smart grid as part of a distributed energy system?
11. What is the annual funding by the Queensland Government to the Queensland power industry in the form of grants, subsidies and loans etc?
12. How much does the Government including its agencies pay each year for electricity and gas?
13. What volume of GHG does the Queensland Government including its agencies generate each year? What percentage is this of the total state GHG emissions? What has been the trend of this over the past 10 years?
14. How much does the Queensland Local Government pay each year for electricity and gas? What has been the trend of this over the past 10 years?
15. What volume of GHG does the Queensland Local Government generate each year? What percentage is this of the total state GHG emissions? What has been the trend of this over the past 10 years?
16. What actions are being taken to reduce the impact of GHG refrigeration gases into the atmosphere?
17. What are the projected volumes of the different types GHG for Queensland in the next 10 years?
18. In the next 10 years how much will Queensland utilities will spend on coal and natural gas to fuel power plants? What has been the trend of this over the past 10 years?
19. How many kilometres of solar thermal power collectors power our entire electricity system in Queensland?
20. In the next 10 years how will wind power generation be rolled out in Queensland? What inward investment initiatives are being taken for this?
21. Why does the Bligh Government favour solar thermal and geothermal while the Rudd Government’s proposed Renewable Energy Target assists the least-cost approach of wind projects?
22. Will the annual renewable energy network benefit statement by the Queensland owned utilities and developers be made available to the general public? What reporting accountability and transparency be made available for private sector utilities and developers in regards to a annual renewable energy network benefit statement?
23. Why has the Queensland Government included solar hot water as a form of renewable energy power (electrical) generation?
24. What savings is currently being achieved through energy efficiency programs in Queensland? What have been the savings in GHG and energy generation?
25. In the next 10 years how will wind power generation be rolled out in Queensland?
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