Australian Financial Review
Thursday 26/7/2007 Page: 14
Starfish Hill was South Australia's first large-scale commercial wind farm when it was approved in 2002. Last year wind farms were the fastest growing form of renewable energy in Australia, making up nearly 8 percent of the country's renewable energy capacity, while hydro makes up 84 percent. There were 37 wind farms in Australia at the end of 2006, with another 13 commissioned, which will more than double wind energy's generation capacity from 651 to 1400 megawatts. The renewable energy industry is excited about the future after years of fighting to compete with cheap, polluting coal, and failing.
The Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy says Australia has the 'highest greenhouse-polluting electricity in the developed world', but change is on the way due to widespread concern about climate change. Both Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd have committed to a carbon emissions trading scheme by about 2012, which will boost renewable energy by pricing in the environmental and social costs of pollution into coal-fired power stations. More than 50 renewable energy companies are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, with share prices recently rising for Geothermal Resources, Babcock and Brown Wind Partners and Geodynamics, despite some technologies being unproven and many companies having no earnings history.
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