SA wants to lead with renewable energy

www.tradingroom.com.au
22 Mar 2012

South Australia's Labor government wants to be a leader in renewable energy and wants more wind farms to do it. SA has more than half of Australia's wind farms and they provided 26% of the state's electricity last year, up from 18% in 2010, and less than one% just five years ago.

The Liberals say Labor's renewable energy push is driving up electricity prices. Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond seized on a report this week from the Energy Users Association of Australia (EUAA), whose members include BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Blue-Scope Steel, that says SA power is the third most expensive in the world after Denmark and Germany.

"We know that Denmark has more wind power than any other electricity market and Germany has the highest level of solar photovoltaics. The South Australian Labor government has pushed both of these technologies here", Ms Redmond said. "When Labor's carbon tax is introduced in July this year, the average power bill is tipped to rise by $150, which will make South Australian electricity prices the world's highest".

But the Energy Supply Association of Australia (ESAA), whose members include CitiPower, Energex, InterGen, Origin Energy and TRUEnergy, says the EUAA report she was citing is "sensationalist". ESAA chief Matthew Warren said it was designed for "shock and awe" value rather than to help find solutions to rising energy prices.

"We all know energy bills have been rising and they will increase further in the future", Mr Warren said. "But many of the claims in this report are inaccurate or exaggerated. "The reality is Australia doesn't have the most expensive energy prices in the world". He says structural changes across the energy sector are driving up prices. That's the upgrading of ageing networks and infrastructure, continued increases in peak demand, a shift to lower emissions energy technologies and increases in the cost of fuels.

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