Energy firms lock in capital's rural land ahead of solar bonanza

Canberra Times
1 July 2011, Page: 1

Solar farm companies have secured large parcels of land in rural ACT in preparation for a large scale solar power auction. Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Simon Corbell, re announced details of an auction process yesterday for solar power businesses to bid for the rights to establish large facilities in the ACT that can produce 40 MWs of power for the national capital. Renewable energy company Elementus Energy has already secured 300ha of pastoral land in the ACT in anticipation of the auction.

Elementus Energy managing director Ashleigh Antflick said the company had signed "bankable" contracts with an undisclosed number of farmers willing to lease their land and have solar farms installed on their properties. He would not confirm the location of the sites. "We have looked towards areas in the ACT, where there is a large enough piece of land and no topographical shading", he said. "You don't want Mount Stromlo casting a long shadow on your solar panels for a few hours a day".

Mr Antflick said it would take three to five hectares of land to produce 1 MW of power and the company would lodge a large bid. Elementus Energy has already been in discussion with ActewAGL Energy about grid connection options. Mr Corbel' said he was aware of a number of renewable energy companies securing land in the ACT to deploy solar farm installations. The ACT Government has released an industry briefing paper on the auction process and plans to develop supporting legislation and an auction framework by the end of the year. Mr Corbell said he expected the sealed bid auction to take place early next year, 18 months later than the mid 2010 auction date previously set.

"This has proven to be a very complex process to work through and industry have said they need sufficient time to plan for auction", he said. "We expect strong interest and we will have up to 20 bids. There is strong industry interest in this already, this is the first time it has been done in Australia". The company offering the most affordable power will win the contract and receive a feed in tariff to support the facility. Meanwhile, a Greens bill to roll the household solar feed in tariff scheme into a medium scheme was passed in the Legislative Assembly yesterday after garnering support from the Liberals.

ACT Greens energy spokesperson Shane Rattenbury said the bill would provide a "lifeline" to the local solar industry, which was devastated by the sudden closure of the micro tariff scheme for households earlier this month. "Overnight the scheme stopped, industry had no preparation, no warning and it created a situation where within weeks we would have seen solar powers in Canberra lay staff off. This provides a smoother transition than the existing scheme would", he said.

Opposition leader Zed Seselja decided to support the Green's bill because it would make "a bad scheme work a little better". Amendments made to the bill by Mr Seselja will require Mr Corbell to report monthly on the number of applications for renewable energy generator connections and will lower the tariff rate for households which entered into a generator contract on or after June 1, 2011.