GE swoops on WA solar

West Australian
31 August 2011, Page: 3

Global giant GE's energy financing arm has taken a 50% stake in a $50 million solar farm in the Mid West, the first project of its kind in Australia to get financial approval. In a deal closed last week, GE Energy Financial Services will partner State-owned utility Verve Energy in establishing the solar farm to partially power WA's second desalination plant.

The Water Corporation has committed to purchase 100% of the new installation's output for the Southern Seawater desalination plant being built near Binningup in the South West. The State Government is providing $20 million for the solar project, of which $10 million is coming from the Royalties for Regions program. The project is GE Energy Financial Services' first renewable energy investment in Australia.

"It has all the criteria we look for: good local partner, good technology provider, sound fundamentals", the company's Australian business leader, Jason Willoughby, said. The Greenough River solar farm will be installed on 80ha of cleared land 50km south-east of Geraldton, and have an output of 10 MWs, or 20 GW/hours per annum. US-based manufacturer FirstSolar will build, operate and maintain the plant using more than 150,000 photovoltaic modules.

It is the first utility-scale solar project in the country, 10 times bigger than any other installation nationwide. It is expected to be operational by the middle of next year. "This is the only one that ticks all the key boxes for a project to be viable", Rob Bartrop, FirstSolar's Australian business development and sales manager, said. "It has a PPA (power purchase agreement) in place, it has a proven technology with a proven company delivering it. And importantly has the ownership in place, in this case with Verve Energy and GE", Mr Bartrop said.

Tony Narvaez, Verve Energy's general manager, strategy and business development, said the project was a "toe in the water" for the utility. "We would like to think that is going to kick off a pipeline of projects moving forward in solar PV", Mr Narvaez said. The desalination plant's use of renewable energy was mandated by the State Government. It will also be supplied by the 55 MW Mumbida wind farm, also in Greenough, an equal partnership between Verve Energy and Macquarie Capital. In that project, GE Energy and Leighton Holdings contractors have formed a consortium to supply and install the turbines.

Solar does NSW a power of good

Sydney Morning Herald
31 August 2011, Page: 8


THE boom in solar panel installations coupled with higher electricity prices and energy efficiency measures has pushed back the likely need for new baseload electricity generation capacity in NSW until near the end of the decade. The need for more baseload power, which operates 24 hours a day, has been steadily pushed back for several years now. When trying to sell the power industry, the then premier Morris Iemma said a power supply shortfall would occur by 2013-14.

In the annual Statement of Opportunities issued by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) today, that need has been pushed back to 2018-19, a further two-year delay since last year's forecast. A factor in the extended delay has been the 500 to 600 MWs of solar panel capacity that is being installed following the state government's generous feed-in tariff subsidy, which has now been curtailed.

Also, higher electricity prices, energy efficiency programs and the slowdown in demand due to the global financial crisis and, more recently, the decline in manufacturing, have hit electricity demand forecasts for NSW. It is a different picture in the other mainland states in the national electricity market, where demand growth is feeding through to the need for new generation capacity.

In Queensland, buoyant demand from the resources sector, with new coalmine developments coupled with liquefied natural gas export projects will mean the state needs new power stations the soonest. (Western Australia and the Northern Territory are not connected to the electricity grid linking the eastern states.) Queensland will need new base-load capacity of an estimated 341 MWs by 2013-14, although if growth is slower it could be 2015-16.

In Victoria and South Australia, AEMO has brought forward by 12 months to 2014-15 the need for new generation capacity. NSW has more than 3820 MWs of gas-fired electricity capacity being planned, with a further 6660 MWs of wind power, according to AEMO. "The [national electricity! market is still growing at 1000 MWs per annum, roughly", AEMO's managing director, Matt Zema, said. "We still need investment in generation in all the regions".

Mr Zema said the forecasts were done before details of the $23 a tonne carbon tax came out, but included a $10 to $12 carbon price. "The [proposed carbon price) doesn't have a big impact in the first five years of the [forecast]", he said, since any closure of generation capacity that may follow would not be until the second half of the decade. "The demand forecasts,.. are really driven off the back of the global financial crisis,.. the weather events we've had. "We're starting to see some energy efficiencies, with people saying "be a bit more careful, more wise' about how they use electricity".

States winds of hypocrisy

Herald Sun
31 August 2011, Page: 33

THE Victorian Government carrying through with its anti-wind farm plans demonstrates a disgraceful double standard. At Bacchus Marsh, just 50km from Melbourne, we are looking down the barrel of a horrible eyesore--the Mantle Mining open-cut coal mine. The health effects of coal are known and documented, and this proposed coal mine does not give the many residents living within 2km the right to say no and veto the project. Do we really prefer our landscapes to be scattered with coal mines instead of wind farms?

Deb Porter, Bacchus Marsh

Tradies 'face ruin' as solar agent collapses

Australian
31 August 2011, Page: 6

A COMPANY that acted as a clearing house for solar panel installers to trade their Renewable Energy Certificates has collapsed owing up to $7 million sparking warnings tradesmen will be forced to the wall.

Creditors to the company Well Being Green, which was placed in administration this month, will next week receive a report into its affairs that is expected to show directors moved about $1.6m out of the company in the weeks before it collapsed. Of this, more than $500,000 is suspected to have been sent to Pakistan, where Ali Obeid, the brother of the company's sole director, Nasir Naveed, moved to after the administrator was appointed.

Mr Naveed has told the company's administrator most of the money taken out of the company was used to pay creditors and to fund a call centre. Administrator Pino Fiorentino said he was examining the withdrawals from the company and the transfers to Pakistan as far back as 2007. He said Mr Naveed had been co-operating with his inquiries, giving him access to records, and had told him most of the withdrawals had been used to pay creditors. He had claimed the money that had been transferred to Pakistan had been used to fund a call centre.

But Brian Carroll, whose Allsafe Energy Efficient Products is owed $1.2m, said the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator should have conducted due diligence and warned installers there were risks in using an intermediary. Mr Carroll's company runs nine stores and employs about 40 people. solar panels and solar hotwater systems generate Renewable Energy Certificates and installers pay householders the value of the certificates and then redeem them through intermediaries. "One or two stores have a real prospect of having to close their doors very, very soon he said."

A spokesman for Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said disputes between solar panel installers and intermediaries usually needed to be handled under the normal commercial and consumer dispute resolution processes. "Registration (in the scheme) allows a person to hold legal title to certificates it was not created to be a government endorsement of a company or t heir products", he said.

Welcome to the rust-bucket state

Age
31 August 2011, Page: 16

THE myopic Baillieu government's draconian new restrictions on wind farms will mean forfeiting more than $3 billion of expected investment and hundreds of clean jobs ("Baillieu's wind farm crackdown", The Age, 30/8). It seems you can build houses and industry in green wedges and open a coal mine anywhere in Victoria, but wind turbines that threaten only the outdated and polluting brown coal-powered dinosaurs like Hazelwood are taboo.

Given the choice, one imagines rural arid regional voters would prefer to live next door to an elegant windmill than a dirty, noisy, open-cut coal mine with its health-damaging noxious pollutants any day. Why does the short-sighted government favour the coal industry and developers but not the entrepreneurs of the future? Hello, rust bucket.

Lynne Holroyd, East Hawthorn


Double standards?
Anglesea residents are left questioning what the two-kilometre exclusion zone for wind farms means for those who live within two kilometres of a coal mine. If this exclusion zone is due to alleged health concerns from the noise of wind turbines, we, too, have health concerns from the effects of airborne particles of coal that need to be tackled.

The Great Ocean Rd is off limits to wind turbines but the mine, adjacent to the road, does not, of course, make an immediate visual impact. The impacts are to the unique flora and fauna of the region and the long-term health risks of breathing in coal particles.

A decision by the Planning Minister on the renewal of the Anglesea mining lease for a further 50 years is expected within weeks. The minister needs to consider the health risks of living close to a coal mine if he is to avoid being accused of double standards. If it is not OK to live within two kilometres of a wind turbine, then how can it be OK to live within two kilometres of a coal mine?

Caroline Hawkins, president, Surf Coast Energy Group, Anglesea


Europeans accept change
I'VE just returned from Europe. wind farms are everywhere--near tourist attractions, along roads where it is particularly windy; anywhere appropriate, and especially near townships and houses, because that's where the consumers of electricity are. No one seems to have a problem with them. They also don't develop in green wedges, allow cattle to graze in their national parks, or try to make it easier to log old growth forest.

Europeans seem to have no problem accepting that, despite their per-capita emissions being way below ours, that something has to change. It's a pity we are not led by leaders. The best I can manage out of my local member, Ted Baillieu, is a form letter in reply to my concerns, uttering vague niceties about planning and the economy, and attacking the opposition.

Tim Connors, Canterbury

Victoria faces electricity woes

The Age
Wednesday 31/8/2011

VICTORIA and South Australia will need new electricity generation capacity earlier than previously forecast as a result of continued stronger than expected demand. The latest forecasts, to be released today by the Australian Energy Market Operator in its annual Statement of Opportunities, brings forward by 12 months to 2014-15 the need for new generation capacity in the two states, from last year's forecast.

And buoyant demand from the resource sector, with new coalmine developments coupled with export liquefied natural gas projects, will result in Queensland also needing more power stations in the national electricity market. Western Australia and the Northern Territory are not in the market because they are not connected to the grid linking the eastern states.

Queensland will need an estimated 341 MWs of new baseload capacity by 2013-14, based on steady economic growth. But if growth is slower, this could push out to 2015-16. Alternately, faster growth would bring that forward to 2012-13. Victoria needs a further 96 MW by 2014-15, with South Australia needing another 46 MW. Victoria has 2650 MW of gas-fired electricity capacity under planning, with a further 4815 MW of wind power, according to AEMO.

"The [national electricity] market is still growing at 1000 MW per annum, roughly", AEMO managing director Matt Zema said. "We still need investment in generation in all the regions, at different times. "Queensland is first cab off the rank at 2013-14, then Victoria/South Australia in 2014-15and then New South Wales 2018-19. "Demand is still growing in most of the regions. Queensland is growing a lot faster than the rest and that's basically driven by both the mining and LNG [sectors]".

Mr Zema said the forecasts were finalised before the government released details of the S23-a-tonne carbon tax, but they do incorporate a $10-$12 carbon price. "The [proposed carbon price] doesn't have a big impact in the first five years of the [forecast]", Mr Zema said, as any closure of generation capacity that might follow the carbon tax would not be until the second half of the decade.

Windfall: $1.3 billion turbine deal to power 225,000 homes

Adelaide Advertiser
31 August 2011

One of the biggest windfarms in the Southern Hemisphere-a $1.3 billion investment-will be built on Yorke Peninsula. The wind farm, to be located about 20 km south-west of Ardrossan, near Pine Point, will generate up to 600 MW of electricity a day, which is about 25% of the state's daily consumption. It will provide enough power for 225,000 homes a year.

A huge undersea cable will link the wind farm's 180 turbines with the main power grid in Adelaide. It is one of the key projects Premier Mike Rann wanted to lock in before he stands down on October 20. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2015, creating 500 jobs during construction, and will provide 50 ongoing positions over 25 years.

The Suzlon Energy group, based in India, is developing the wind farm. The project will also involve a pilot power plant that would convert biomass into energy, which would also be fed into South Australia's power supply. Biomass is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. These include municipal solid waste, dead trees and clippings, which can be used to generate electricity or produce heat. Further wind farm development is expected in South Australia following the Victorian Government decision to introduce tough new guidelines for the generators.

There have been protests from landowners in South Australia about wind farms being located close to their properties-the latest in the south-east, where the Environment, Resources and Development Court blocked the proposed $175 million Acciona Energy wind farm at Allendale East. There have also been growing protests from residents in the mid-North about wind farms on the grounds of their possible health dangers.

Suzlon Energy EnergyAustralia chief executive Dan Hansen said the project, to be known as Ceres Power and named after a steamship with sails that was built in 1976 for a South Australian company, had been initiated by Yorke Peninsula farmers and local developers. Suzlon Energy has already installed 6 windfarms in South Australia with an installed capacity of 507 MW and already employs 92 people here. "The Ceres Power project will create local jobs, place the region on the global map as a leader in renewable technologies and give Peninsula farmers and landowners the opportunity to diversify their income streams", Mr Hansen said.

Mr Hansen said it was estimated the project would save up to 2600 million litres of clean water had the power been produced from a coal-fired source. "This is consistent with a commitment by the South Australian government in June, 2009, to increase its renewable energy production target to 33% by 2020", he said.

Mr Rann described the new development as "the mother of all windfarms", although he said it would have to go through the normal regulatory and planning processes. "It will be one of the biggest windfarms in the world", he told The Advertiser yesterday. "Currently, with only 7.2% of Australia's population we have 54% of Australia's wind power. We have, per capita, 5 times more wind power than Victoria and 10 times more than New South Wales". Mr Rann said South Australia was now "in the box seat for future wind power development". He said this had been done without costing taxpayers any money.

An ill wind may blow

Herald Sun
30 August 2011, Page: 25

HUNDREDS of householders in Morwell live within 2km of the proposed HRL coal-fired power station, though they have no say on whether it goes ahead. But under the Baillieu Government's new rules, if HRL were building a wind farm, any one of those people could stop the project just by saying no. Does Ted Baillieu only like electricity if it comes with pollution?

Andrew Bray, Ballarat

Baillieu's legacy

Age
30 August 2011, Page: 12

VICTORIA used to seem staid and sensible. Not any more. The government seems set on anti-environmental pranks on an almost daily basis. Cows in parks, developments in green wedges, species protection in forests being rethought and now, not content with a report suggesting fewer jobs will be created under a carbon tax, they are keen to thwart windfarms. We may not be blessed with as many mining resources as other states, but what we do have, in abundance, is wind.

Why would we forgo this advantage especially since farming and wind turbines can coexist, with no proven health impacts? There does not seem to be broad community agitation for any of the recent changes. So why do it, just to please a well connected handful? Has this government stopped to consider its legacy of environmental stewardship or is it just too busy ticking off favours to Liberal and National party "mates"?

Jo McCubbin, Sale

Wind farm a winner, but not under new rules

Age
30 August 2011, Page: 2

TWO months ago Australia's first community-owned wind farm was honoured by Premier Ted Baillieu. The Hepburn Community Wind Park won the community category in the annual Premier's Sustainability Award. The award was not without some irony. According to the project's chairman, Simon Holmes a Court, the two turbine plant about 10 kilometres from Daylesford would not have been built under the Premier's new wind farm regulations.

While heavily backed by the locals, with most of its nearly 2000 investors based in the region, the farm was opposed by a handful of residents living within two kilometres. "There is no way we would have got our project up under this policy", he said. Operating at Leonard's Hill since June, the Hepburn farm is expected to generate 12,200 MWs of power a year more than enough for the town's 2000 homes.

Mr Holmes a Court, who doubles as chairman of Embark Australia, a body that helps other communities develop renewable energy projects, said the policy would kill off small proposed wind farms at Woodend and Castlemaine. He said it also meant Victorians were unlikely to end up with its share of the national 20% renewable energy target by the end of the decade. "Victoria will miss out on the coming renewables boom", he says, while funding other states will go ahead.

Baillieu's wind farm crackdown Industry warns investment will go

Age
30 August 2011, Page: 1

THE clean energy industry has warned it will invest away from Victoria, potentially costing the state $3 billion, after the Baillieu government announced Australia's most restrictive planning laws for wind farms. In a win for anti-wind farm group Landscape Guardians, the government has confirmed it will amend planning laws to give households power to veto wind turbines within two kilometres of their homes.

Turbines will also be banned in the Macedon and McHarg Ranges, in the Yarra Valley, on the Mornington Peninsula, Bellarine Peninsula, and within five kilometres of the Great Ocean Rd and the Bass Coast. In changes that go further than what the Coalition flagged before last year's state election, turbines will also be prohibited within 5 kilometres of 21 regional centres.

Planning Minister Matthew Guy said the changes restored "certainty and fairness" to local communities while leaving 92% of the state open to wind farm development. "It is important that while wind power develops, it does not do so at the detriment of rural and regional Victorians", he said.

But opponents to the change said the 92% figure was valid only if all rural households agreed to farms being built in "no-go zones" around their homes. If they opposed, most of the state was blacked out. The Clean Energy Council said the change would cost hundreds of new jobs in regional areas and billions of dollars in investment. An analysis for the council by consultants Carbon Market Economics before last year's election, estimated that between 50 and 70% of proposed wind farms, worth up to $3.6 billion, would not be developed under Coalition policy.

Clean Energy Council chief executive Matthew Warren said the policy meant individual landholders could in effect hold developers to ransom. "If Victoria is prepared to impose mandatory setbacks on technology as quiet, safe and clean as wind turbines,.. what will they do to more imposing infrastructure like roads, fossil fuel power stations, factories or mines?" he said.

The new planning rules affect future wind farm proposals, not those already approved. A total of 1107 turbines, with 2629 MWs of generating capacity, have been approved for Victoria, but not yet built. Renewable energy company Pacific Hydro said it remained committed to building three farms approved under Labor, but it did "not envisage" developing more in Victoria.

"The race for investment in renewable energy and regional job creation is heating up, [but] unfortunately these new wind farm rules will hold Victoria back while other states power ahead", Pacific Hydro general manager Lane Crockett said.

Several other wind power developers declined to comment publicly, but Freehills environment and planning law partner Tim Power said many of the eight firms he represented agreed with Pacific Hydro. "I would say that is representative of the view of quite a few wind farm companies", he said.

Acciona Energy communications director Tricia Kent said it was "unfortunate" the government had not consulted before announcing rule changes. "We will look at our future portfolio on a national basis", she said. Victorian Landscape Guardians president Randall Bell described the announcement as a "starting point", and credited Premier Ted Baillieu a former planning spokesman in opposition with driving the change.

"I'd have to say Ted has picked the logical no-go zones, but unfortunately we've lost quite a number [of sites] already", he said. "Sadly, for landscapes such as Cape Bridgewater and Bald Hills, it is too late". Mr Bell said the introduction of a two-kilometre veto suggested the government accepted the group's claims that wind turbines caused health problems. "I don't know what they are doing it for otherwise".

Mr Guy denied his decision was based on a link between turbines and poor health. "I haven't seen any evidence either in favour or against that's definitive", he said. The National Health and Medical Research Council last year found there was no published scientific evidence linking wind turbines with health problems. The minister said the two kilometre buffer for households was chosen after studying planning schemes in New Zealand and Britain.

He dismissed the claims that the policy would have a multibillion dollar impact on the state. "There are still 1000 turbines permitted in Victoria, there are only 400 built", Mr Guy said. "There is still a long way to go for those turbines to be built and I do not believe that this will scuttle wind investment in the state".

Opposition planning spokesman Brian Tee said Mr Baillieu had "crushed" wind farm development. "The price will be paid by the loss of regional jobs, the environment and our children who will be locked out of a green future", Mr Tee said.

Greens MP Greg Barber said Mr Baillieu had close links with anti-wind farm groups. He said there was "not a single thing" they had asked for and not been given. "Wind farms are one of the biggest growth areas for regional Victoria over the past 10 years and they would have been for the next 20 years, but he has killed that off", Mr Barber said.

It's time to catch the wind and create jobs

Sunday Telegraph
28 August 2011, Page: 97

NSW simply can't afford to miss the golden opportunity to invest in clean, green energy, writes Liberal backbencher Catherine Cusack

A small minority of our constituents believe immunisation is a plot against children, fluoride poisons our water, and wind turbines make inaudible noise that causes cancer. I accept the sincerity of their beliefs, but none of these ideas are supported by mainstream medical science. Most Australians accept medical advice in relation to fluoridation and immunisation, but in NSW wind power continues to be controversial.

Wind turbines are embraced in Europe, the UK and the US places that have energy strategies planning the mix of energy for the next 10, 20 and 30 years; and secures their fossil fuel and clean energy supplies for future generations. Australia is truly languishing in the clean-energy stakes. We have spent billions on small-scale solar and neglected economically viable largescale renewable. Rather than bore you with statistics about Spain, I have looked closer to home.

New Zealand, with an abundance of hydropower, has 63.8% "low carbon". The US, with substantial nuclear and hydropower, has 26.8%. The UK has 19.5% clean energy. By 2030, a third of their power will be produced by wind. Canada has 72.7% low-carbon energy sources for electricity. Australia has only 6.8% clean electricity. We ranked 29th out of 30 countries. (Poland comes in last with 2.2%.) The OECD average is 35.5%.

We have 1153 wind turbines at 54 wind farms producing 2124 MW of electricity (equivalent to powering 891,000 homes). This represents $5.6 billion in capital investment and has created 6000 direct and indirect jobs. But in NSW, with a third of the population, our share of this is just 9%. We are the worst performing state in the second worst performing country in the developed world. We have only seven wind farms that are incapable of meeting demand for Green Energy. However, in the investment pipeline we have 29 proposed wind farms promising 4,000 direct jobs plus thousands more indirect ones.

At least $6.274 billion of the $10.5 billion price tag would be invested locally. The question is: How much of that can accrue to NSW? The opportunity is huge. Wind turbines are made of steel, BlueScope steel. But if you look at two of our largest wind farms, Capital and Woodlawn near Bungendore, the BlueScope steel from Port Kembla was all sent to Queensland, Victoria and South Australia for fabrication into 90x80m towers.

The bolts and 90 turbine transformers were manufactured in Victoria, and 35km of aluminium cable, some sub-station switchgear, and the steel sub-station control rooms came from Queensland. These components were all trucked back to NSW for installation. Yes, we have a political problem to solve but there is a glittering economic opportunity for regional NSW, and especially for Port Kembla, if we can do it. The solution lies in moving proposed wind farms away from population centres.

This would require some financial subsidy to lengthen the connection to the grid. It would be a fraction of the funds already being spent to upgrade our electricity infrastructure. It would be the only subsidy NSW would be required to make. Large scale wind farms receive no state subsidies.

Secondly we must send a strong investment signal to the industry: that we will assist with planning approvals away from population centres so that our state can have the maximum benefits of the $6.2 billion to create 4000 direct jobs. And with BlueScope shedding 1000 jobs in Port Kembla last week, we simply can't afford to reject this golden opportunity. It's time to shake off the myths, solve the politics and catch the wind.

Renewable energy sells

Summaries - Australian Financial Review
26 August 2011, Page: 11

The expansion of a second desalination plant in Perth will underpin a solar power plant as well as the Macquarie Capital-backed Mumbida wind farm. State-owned Water Corporation will purchase the entire output of electricity for the renewable projects to offset the Binningup desalination expansion Water Minister Bill Marmion announced yesterday.

Shining future for solar power

Daily Telegraph
Friday 26/8/2011 Page: 37

BIG solar is up to the job of powering Australia. The world-leading solar power tower Gemasolar in Spain is exciting and inspiring and it's easy to see why. The plant has only been in commercial operation for a couple of months but has already demonstrated that concentrated solar power can generate an electricity supply that is continuous, reliable and clean. That's right: 24-hour solar power.

Gemasolar uses sunlight to power a steam turbine that is exactly the same as those used in fossil plants. Molten salt tanks that store the sun's heat, much like a big thermos, allow it to generate electricity around the clock for 25,000 households. This mighty combination of concentrated sunlight and energy storage means the plant will run more hours per year than most nuclear and coal power plants. And Spain is not alone.

The US has half a dozen much larger projects in the pipeline that have attracted investment from forward looking companies like Google. America's entry into solar thermal generation means big cost reductions. So, if this great technology exists in countries like Spain and the US, why is Australia not embracing it? Concentrating solar thermal technology is not new. In Australia, clean energy players have been aware of it for many years, but it has taken a while for politicians to catch on.

Most would hear the words "solar power" and picture the more familiar rooftop solar panels. While rooftop solar is a wise investment to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels, it is not able to provide utility scale baseload power. solar thermal holds excellent potential for our country.

Not everyone is happy about this. Vested interests seem intent on running a scare campaign against renewable energy, saying commercial-scale baseload solar is impossible, that other countries are not making the transition so Australia shouldn't either, or that renewable energy is too expensive, and so on.

But once our politicians actually see this technology up and running in other countries, that it works and is rapidly coming down in price, it becomes much harder to continue to pass up the opportunity for Australia to capitalise on some of the world's best solar resources. A renewable energy future is within Australia's grasp we just need the political will.

Victorian wind policy to send jobs and investment interstate

www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au
29 Aug 2011

Hundreds of new regional jobs and multi-billion dollar investment in regional Victoria are the real casualties of the Victorian Government's 2km wind setback policy posted online over the weekend. Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Matthew Warren said approximately $3 billion in investment would be lost to Victoria as a result of its new planning policy.

"Carving out large areas of the state as 'no-go zones' sends a clear message that Victoria is closed for business when it comes to future wind power," Mr Warren said. "More than half of future wind farms proposed in Victoria will not be built as a direct result of this policy.

"The Victorian Government is sending jobs and investment interstate and will effectively drive up electricity prices in Victoria. Individual landholders can effectively hold developers to ransom under this policy by refusing to sign up to an agreement."

Mr Warren said all developers of major infrastructure in Victoria should be nervous today. "If the Victorian Government is prepared to impose mandatory setbacks on technology as quiet, safe and clean as wind turbines without consultation, then what will they do to more imposing infrastructure – like roads, fossil fuel power stations, factories or mining projects?" he said.

In addition to the 2km setback policy, the government has also prohibited wind power investment in large areas of the state, such as the Macedon and Yarra Ranges. Mr Warren said the setback policy was not based on science and were "completely arbitrary". "The government has effectively introduced major changes to the planning system overnight with no industry consultation and many areas of great uncertainty still exist in relation to the implementation of this policy," he said.

Solar-thermal plants generate power day and night

Canberra Times
25 August 2011, Page: 16

The sun doesn't shine at night, the wind doesn't always blow. So John Coochey (Letters, August 17) jumps to the obvious, but wrong conclusion that these sources of energy can't provide baseload electricity. In Europe and the United States, large-scale, solar thermal plants generate baseload electricity 24 hours a day, every day. Mirrors focus energy from the sun on to a vessel containing salt.

The salt is heated to 600° Celsius during the day and the molten salt stores the heat through the night. This heat is used to produce steam, which drives conventional turbines to produce electricity. The Melbourne-based research group, Beyond Zero Emissions, shows in a report (www.beyondzeroemissions.org) how this technology could form the basis of a new electricity-generating system to meet Australia's future needs. BZE's plan includes wind and biomass, and could be broadened to use tidal and geothermal sources.

New generating stations and transmission lines are expensive. But the days of cheap electricity from fossil fuels are over. Oil is already in short supply. When costs and risks associated with climate change are factored in, renewables are the safe and sensible solution. Worldwide, new investment in electrical power generation from renewables now exceeds that from fossil fuels, according to United Nations figures. With abundant renewable energy sources, Australia has an unparalleled opportunity to invest in technically proven and commercially available options as the basis of our future energy security.

David Teather, Reid

Uncertainty clouds solar company's future

Age
25 August 2011, Page: 2

A BRITISH solar power company says it will scrap plans to expand into four regional Victorian centres, creating up to 120 jobs, if the Baillieu government substantially cuts a household subsidy scheme for rooftop panels. Mark Group chief executive Rob Grant said a decision to open offices in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and the Latrobe Valley had been put on hold until the announcement of changes to a program that pays households a premium rate for energy fed into the power grid.

A plan to hire about 100 electrical, installation and sales staff for his Melbourne office based in Tullamarine had also been delayed. Electricity companies in Victoria pay households 600 per kW generated, but the premium rate is limited to the first 100 MWs installed. That threshold has nearly been reached. The Baillieu government is yet to announce the scheme's future, but says it is considering "interim policy measures" to apply into next year while the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission examines the situation.

Mr Grant said Mark Group opened its Australian operation in 2009 after being courted by government agencies, including the federal government's Austrade and Invest Victoria. He said attempts to build the business had been frustrated by uncertainty over whether renewable energy programs would survive. The company employs 25 people in Victoria.

"There is a burgeoning green-collar industry being created here and we want to invest and employ, but we need consistent policy for it to happen", he said. "I think anything below a tariff of 40¢ is probably going to be problematic. If the scheme is significantly changed, the regional operations will not go ahead and the growth in Melbourne will be significantly curtailed".

Opposition energy spokeswoman Lily D'Ambrosio accused the government of stifling investment and killing new jobs. "It is a sad day when one of the world's largest renewable energy companies looks set to abandon Victoria because of the Baillieu government's dithering on solar", she said. A government spokesman said it was aware businesses needed certainty. He said the commission inquiry would focus on ensuring future feed-in tariffs took a "sustainable and economically responsible approach".

The Mark Group warning comes amid a wider debate about solar feed-in-tariff schemes, which are usually paid for by all households through increases in electricity bills. Federal Climate Change Minister Greg Combet has said solar subsidies should be wound back once a carbon price was introduced as they were an inefficient and at times inequitable way to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The new New South Wales Coalition government closed what was widely considered an overly generous scheme that paid for all power generated, whether used at home or fed into the grid, triggering what the industry says has been a collapse in demand for panels. Western Australia recently ended its scheme once it reached its cap. In Victoria, the cost to household power bills of the premium scheme is capped at $10 a year. The Clean Energy Council has called for it to be continued for two years, possibly at 35¢-40¢.

Chinese firm a turbo-charged leader in energy sector

Australian
24 August 2011, Page: 6

A COMPANY from the restive far-western Chinese province of Xinjiang, which has been the recipient of billions of dollars in central government funds in the past two years, is emerging as one of the leading suppliers of wind turbines to Australia. Xinjiang Goldwind Science and Technology is one of a burgeoning group of state-owned or sponsored companies from China that are keen to become leading suppliers of clean and green energy equipment.

As well as wind, this includes solar and nuclear although that industry's future is more clouded after the reactor disaster in Japan and there are mountains of subsidies available. The Chinese government is handing over billions of dollars in subsidies to green energy companies as it attempts to limit the growth of its carbon emissions.

Goldwind is in a sweet spot for government support in China: as well as being in a target growth sector, it is in a target growth region, as the Chinese government spends up big to develop its poorer central, western and northeastern provinces. Xinjiang was the scene of riots in July 2009 when almost 200 people were killed and has seen a number of violent attacks, one by police on protesters, this year. As such, it has been a particular target of government support in an attempt to create jobs and ease social pressures.

In April, Goldwind hit something of a jackpot, winning two new orders in the US of five 1.5 MW direct-drive permanent magnetic wind turbines to be installed in two wind farms in Ohio and on Rhode Island. "Goldwind has achieved marvellous results in tapping the world market since our American arm was established a year ago", Goldwind America chief Tom Rosenweig said at the time of the deal.

Singapore embraces clean technologies

Weekend Australian
20 August 2011, Page: 8

WHILE Australia continues to haggle politically about how we intend to confront the issue of a cleaner energy future and whether we should lead or wait to follow, many of the world's largest corporations, such as GE and Schneider Electric, have decided to push on regardless. At the same time, Singapore has decided to lead and embrace clean technologies not just for its own future but to also position itself as a clean energy hub for business and innovation globally.

The Singapore government has heavily backed the clean technology industry in recent years with the goal of creating 18,000 jobs and generating $S3.4 billion (S2.7bn) towards the nation's GDP by 2015. According to the deputy CEO of the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore, Armin Aberle, this includes 7000 skilled jobs in the engineering sector within cleantech. German-born Aberle worked for more than a decade at the University of New South Wales in research and development before he was attracted to Singapore's strong emphasis on cleantech a couple of years ago.

He says the skilled jobs coming online in the clean energy sector which include solar power, fuel-cells, wind power, energy efficiency and carbon services offer excellent the opportunities for engineers and scientists. "Things are developing rapidly and the prospects of achieving the 2015 targets are good. Singapore is always interested in attracting and grooming global talent", Aberle says.

He says Southeast Asia is booming and poised to continue to do so for many years, largely as the result of an emerging well-off middle-class that drives demand for services and goods. "The fundamentals for manufacturing are also steadily improving in the region, and thus the prospects for continued growth are good. He says Singapore is a late starter in cleantech, but if the government sees the potential in an idea, things move quickly. "While four years ago the renewable energy sector in the country was almost non-existent, the cleantech sector is now a key pillar of the economic agenda.

Contact Singapore's executive director Ng Siew Kiang says that as "cleantech gains prominence and popularity on a global scale, we expect there will be more qualified professionals with the necessary skills who will not only fill these new jobs, but will also be catalysts who continue to drive the industry forward".

According to Aberle, SERIS is set up like a research company and needs to secure a large part of its annual budget from industry and via public R&D grants. As such, SERIS collaborates closely with industry and has been able to secure millions of dollars of research funding every year.

"We have attracted large contracts from industrial clients in Singapore, the Asia Pacific and Europe", he says. Collaborative work has included projects with the Norwegian company Renewable Energy Corporation, which operates a world-class integrated solar manufacturing plant in Singapore for the production of silicon wafers, solar cells and PV modules.

In one project, RECs set about further enhancing the efficiency of its silicon wafer solar cells with future-oriented processing technology and techniques together with the scientific support of SERIS. "As a result of the technical innovations from this R&D project, RECs also expects to achieve significant production cost reductions, which will help bring down solar module prices and speed up the development of solar markets", Aberle concludes.

Sustainable building system can cut carbon emissions

Weekend Australian
20 August 2011, Page: 1

CHRIS Bamett's claim that his homes have "twice the insulation of a normal house and can reduce heating and cooling needs by two-thirds" would be impressive enough, but when you learn he's talking about a two-thirds reduction on the existing five-star benchmark you really sit up and take notice. Habitech is a sustainable building system designed to create custom designed homes with an energy efficiency rating of 7.5 stars or more.

This is energy efficiency at the cutting edge of new house building design and building and its modelled on the modular housing innovations the US and Europe have been undertaking for a number of years (if you're a fan of the British TV series Grand Designs you'll have seen beautiful homes built using equivalent systems from Germany).

More than that though its also a glimpse at house construction systems that mean carbon tax cost pressures direct and indirect are simply a moot point because there's substantially less carbon emissions in its construction than conventional housing in this country and, if attached to photovoltaics generating its own solar power, a house built using such systems can sell electricity back to the grid.

The brainchild of architect-trained Barnett, Habitech Systems is a Melbourne-based venture that aims to make locally fabricated, environmentally sustainable, quick and easy-to-build homes that are modern and good value in the mid-market price range. Barnett says Habitech is the result of a two-year research and development process to create "better outcomes with current technology".

His demonstration building is an extension to a post-war cottage on the Mornington Peninsula, at Shoreham, east of Melbourne, and was built to the lock-up stage in 21/2 weeks. Much of the home was built in the factory and trucked in, but Barnett says this doesn't make it a "prefabricated building, our whole mentality is based on a component-based build". That is a system that allows homes to be custom-designed, rather than having to conform to a limited range of shapes and dimensions as many factory built options are, which can be factory built and assembled on site.

The technology builds houses that cut emissions by 70%, Barnett says, and have low embodied energy (minimal energy used in construction). As for the cost Barnett says, "our initial offer is three-quarters of the traditional architect-designed process". He adds that the company can "quantify the cost of the building fabric super accurately". This means no surprising cost blowouts in the structure of the building, although other costs, like how much you spend on the internal finishes, appliances, kitchen and bathrooms is up to the client.

Barnett quotes a figure of "about $2200 a m²" for the building cost. By comparison a mass-produced home now comes in at about $800-$900/m²; a draftsman designed master built home at $1500-$2500/m² and an average architect-designed home at $2500-$3500/m² (or more, depending on the quality of the materials, inclusions and finishing). "We're cheaper than architecture and our building fabric is much higher quality", says Barnett. "With volume we hope to drive the price down to $1800/m² in the future".

Put Victoria first

The Saturday Age 20 August 2011, Page: 23

 Ted Baillieu has shown himself to be a Liberal politician first, Victorian Premier second. Bizarrely, the Deloitte "research" he presented didn't include the generous compensation for consumers or for Victoria's brown coal-fired power sector. It was a textbook example of the way the Coalition will misuse information to get the headlines it wants. Instead of jumping on Tony Abbott's bandwagon, Baillieu should be facing up to the fact that Victoria has one of the dirtiest power generation sectors in the developed world.

As emissions begin to be priced around the world, the financial burden of running stations like Hazelwood power station and Yallourn W power station will only increase. Having reneged on his commitment to reduce Victoria's emissions by 20% by 2020, and with his stymieing of wind farms, Baillieu no longer has a strategy to deal with climate change.

 Andrew Bray, Ballarat

Councils join wind revolution

Sunday Tasmanian
21 August 2011, Page: 14

SEVERAL well known locations near Hobart have been identified as having the right conditions for a southern Tasmanian wind farm proposal. They include Mt Wellington, Collinsvale, Eaglehawk Neck and Nubeena, where wind speeds are considered to have suitable strength and consistency. Other locations were identified in the state's South but are unlikely to be seriously considered because of their remoteness. They include Maatsuyker, Maria and Tasman Islands, Cape Bruny, Hartz Mountain, Scotts Peak Dam and Liawenee. All of the locations are listed in a report conducted by Environ Australia for the Hobart City Council.

HCC alderman Bill Harvey described the report as an ABC of wind farms compiled to get southern councils thinking about the possibility of a jointly-owned wind farm. A farm with seven two MW wind turbines would be needed to offset the greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity consumption of all southern councils. Three turbines of the same size could offset the HCC's electricity consumption, while one turbine would offset the impact of street lighting. Sites within a 120km radius of Hobart were considered. To be suitable for an efficient wind farm, a site should have an average annual wind speed of at least 5.5m/s at ground level.

The Environ Australia report says a council-owned wind farm is economically feasible for the South, mainly because of the projected increase in the price of Renewable Energy Certificates beyond 2014. However, it points to the need for community acceptance of any wind farm proposal, the capacity of the electricity grid to accommodate the development, planning and infrastructure constraints and the impact of the wind farm on council resources.

Ald Harvey said the next stage of planning would be more specialised and include a more specific search for a likely location. "This is a good initial report, especially to give to other councils to encourage them to be part of it", he said. Ald Harvey said it would be difficult for Hobart or any other council to go it alone on a wind farm. "One of the main points we need to consider is that if we want to get federal funding, especially funding associated with the carbon tax, we need to be looking at this project as a region", he said. "If we do it individually, it doesn't have the same clout. We hope the other councils realise it's important to do it as a region".

Ald Harvey said the successful placement and construction of a wind farm would rely on gaining community support, particularly from residents in the area where the facility was constructed. "It comes down to what's the best location with regard to threatened species, wind resource and community acceptance. They are the main factors we need to be considering", he said. In July the Hobart City Council posted letters to other southern councils asking them to commit to further investigation. Glenorchy Mayor Adriana Taylor said her council was supportive of the idea, but could not currently spare any money for wind farm studies.

However, Ald Taylor said this could change if more federal funding for renewable energy projects became available after the introduction of the carbon tax. "We really commend Hobart City Council for taking the lead on this, because we think it's a great idea, but at the moment we don't have money in our budget to support it financially", she said. Kingborough Mayor Graham Bury said his council supported further investigation into a wind farm, but would not contribute any money for further reports yet.

Southern Midlands Mayor Tony Bisdee said he could see the potential of a councils'-owned wind farm which could bring benefits to rural areas. This week, the Tasman Council will vote on a motion to support the Hobart City Council's investigations. Mayor Jan Barwick said she thought councillors would vote in favour of joining a working group to delve further into the proposal. With three sites within her coastal municipality identified as having a usable wind resource, Cr Barwick said the siting issue on any wind farm would be a complex local process.

Geraldton to go solar

West Australian
23 August 2011, Page: 13

Most Geraldton homes could be powered by solar power as early as 2014 if a proposed $200 million hybrid solar and diesel power station is given the go-ahead. Investment bank Investec Bank has submitted a planning application for a station 10km east of the city that would be one of Australia's biggest solar plants outside the Federal Government's $1.5 billion Solar Flagships program. The facility is expected to generate 100,000 MWs of electricity each year, or enough to power about 18,000 homes.

Mark Schneider, from Investec Bank, said it made sense to invest in solar power in Geraldton because the city required more power and also supported sustainable development. Mr Schneider said a decision on whether to proceed with the project is due next year. He said the carbon tax would help make the project more viable but the biggest driver was the Federal Government's renewable energy target of 20% by 2020.

IKEA U.K. Buys Scottish Wind-Power Plant

www.earthtechling.com
18 August 2011

IKEA is beginning to act almost Google-like in its far-reaching pursuit of sustainability. The worldwide home-furnishing retailer, already big on rooftop solar, has now bought itself a wind-power plant in northern Scotland as part of its "IKEA Goes Renewable" initiative.

IKEA UK's newly purchased12.3 MW ( MW) capacity wind-power producer is in Huntly, Aberdeenshire. The plant consists of seven wind turbines, each rated at 1.75 MW. Annual production is pegged at 24.7 million kW hours ( kW) of electricity, the equivalent to the electricity consumption of five IKEA stores, or 30% of the company's total electricity consumption in the United Kingdom.

IKEA is also investing close to £4 million in fitting over 39,000 photovoltaic solar panels to the rooftops of 10 IKEA stores in the UK The panels will provide, on average, 5% of each store's electricity needs, or almost enough energy to power around half of one of the company's 18 UK-based stores with solar power alone.

The solar installations are expected to be completed by March 2012. The solar panels will generate around 1,600,000 kW per year, enough to power 492 homes. Built to operate effectively for 25 years, it is anticipated that the solar panels will reduce IKEA UK's CO₂ consumption on average by 662 tons per year during this first 25 years of the installations' operation.

Seam gas: CEO still uncertain

Age
19 August 2011, Page: 8

ONE of Australia's top energy chiefs has conceded that there is still significant uncertainty about emissions from coal seam gas, as controversy continues to plague the fledgling industry. The concession by Origin Energy CEO Grant King came amid disputed claims over carbon emissions released by CSG, and as a gas conference in Sydney was marred by protests.

Greens MPs have challenged the conventional wisdom that gas gives off about half as much greenhouse gas as coal when burned for fuel. They claim the release of "fugitive" emissions under coal seam gas extraction renders gas almost as polluting as coal once the "full life cycle" is considered.

Mr King said there was no doubt that conventional gas was less polluting than coal, but conceded that evidence about the pollution rates from CSG was "less readily available". "This is in part because interest in the issue has only arisen recently and in part because actual results will vary according to specific plant and equipment being used by different owners and operators along the supply chain", he said.

Woodside Petroleum chief executive Peter Coleman said he was yet to see a business case that could lure the Perth company into alternative forms of gas such as CSG. But after years working in the US for Exxon-Mobil, Mr Coleman said he had noticed that communities were less hostile to alternative forms of gas when landowners shared in the rewards. WA Premier Colin Barnett has suggested that close to half Australia's power needs should be generated by gas, but Mr Coleman said that was unlikely to happen until the domestic market was willing to pay as much for gas as export markets were.

Solar energy cost hits par with coal fuel

Sydney Morning Herald
18 August 2011, Page: 1

THE cost of solar power in parts of NSW has for the first time crept below that of coal-fired electricity seen as a key tipping point for the expansion of renewable energy. New data shows solar power is edging towards "grid parity", after which it becomes cheaper than fossil fuel-generated energy such as coal and gas, even taking into account the upfront cost of buying rooftop solar panels.

But it was one of the few bright spots for an industry suffering from a 93% drop in rooftop panel installations since the boom late last year at the peak of the NSW bonus scheme. Workers at Australia's only commercial solar cell maker, the Silex Systems plant at Homebush in Sydney, were told yesterday that cell production would be outsourced to China.

Nevertheless, the flow-on effects of the subsidies have helped achieve grid parity across wide areas of rural NSW. For the first time, the amount paid to households feeding power to the electricity grid passed 280 a kW, which is the equivalent of buying coal-fired power from a utilities company Andrew Blakers, the director of the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems at the Australian National University, said: "If you look at the prices being paid today, we have already reached grid parity in a lot of places except Melbourne and Hobart".

In Sydney, the price paid for solar power fed back to the grid depends on the agreement between the household and the provider, and whether a household agreed to the state government's feed-in tariff in time to take advantage of high rates of payback. The Australian Photovoltaic Association said that while some areas had reached grid parity, it could be several years before solar electricity was worth more than coal-fired electricity in most of NSW, and that depended on state and federal policy.

"A 1.5 kW system in Sydney is probably going to be cost effective next year or the year after, depending on whether we get a carbon price", said Muriel Watt, the chairwoman of the association and a senior lecturer in renewable energy engineering at the University of New South Wales. The amount of solar power generated in NSW has surged above the cap imposed by the previous state government.

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal said thousands of households were still waiting for their panels to be installed under the $1.9 billion solar bonus scheme, which would drive up the overall cost to the taxpayer. As of this week, up to 71 MWs worth of solar systems had yet to be fully installed, taking the total amount of power generated under the scheme to 371 MWs.

When the former government halted new applications last October, it received 38,000 applications on the final day, the tribunal said. This year, the government was forced to abandon moves to cut retrospectively the tariff applied under the bonus scheme, to limit profiteering. As a result, the state government is seeking the tribunal's assistance in setting tariffs for household systems.

Yesterday the solar industry called on the government to introduce interim measures to pay households at market rates for the power they produced until the tribunal's review of subsidies is completed next year. The Australian Solar Energy Society said 416 jobs had been lost since the industry spiked in November, and a quarter of the state's solar installation businesses had closed.

At the Silex Systems plant yesterday, about 30 people were told they would be made redundant and others would be redeployed because the company could no longer afford to compete with cheaper, imported solar cells. The panels will still be made at the plant. The chief executive, Michael Goldsworthy, said: "This type of silicon flat panel technology was actually invented here in Sydney at the University of New South Wales,.. that's the sad thing. Now it's all gone offshore". The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union said many of the workers had previously worked in the same plant with BP Solar, and were being made redundant for the second time.

Imports blamed as solar plant closes

Summaries - Australian Financial ReviewI
18 August 2011, Page: 8

In a blow to the Federal government's attempts to promote its carbon price scheme, Silex Systems, Australia's only maker of solar cells for roof-top panels will shut its Sydney solar cell facility. Silex Systems chief executive Michael Goldsworthy said, "We have a flood of cheap Asian imports". He also said it was "ironic that the silicon-based technology was invented at the University of New South Wales". A spokesperson for Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said the closure and the loss of 30 jobs reinforced "the need to legislate the clean energy package without delay".

However, Liberal shadow environment minister Greg Hunt said it made a "mockery of the government's clean energy future mantra". Australian Greens deputy leader Christine Milne said, "Where is the outcry over yet more job losses in the solar sector?" Australian Manufacturing Workers Union NSW secretary Tim Ayres said the Federal government "needs to make sure we maintain the clean energy technology we have got in difficult circumstances". Dr Goldsworthy also noted that the over the last few years most of the benefit of the state government feed-in tariffs had gone to offshore panel manufacturers. Silex Systems will continue to make solar PV panels.