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Hot rocks, wind, oceans,
solar: Australia has worldclass
clean energy resources
at its fingertips.
For years now it’s been Australia’s price on
pollution that’s been on everyone’s lips, but it’s
the renewable energy target (RET), the younger
sibling of the carbon price, that Australia needs
to get moving on clean energy.
The RET is a national, bipartisan target of having
20 per cent of our energy generated by renewable
resources by 2020. It’s arguably the most
vital element of our future energy mix.
Last year alone, the world saw about $260
billion in investment in renewable energy,
eclipsing for the first time investment in fossil
fuels. There can be no clearer demonstration
that burning things we dig out of the ground
is yesterday’s technology, and renewable is the
future. In fact, it’s the present.
We in Australia — indeed everyone around
the world — are living through the first stages
of a global clean energy boom. If the RET, the
Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and
the Australian Renewable Energy Agency can
hold hands and work together they are our ticket
to riding that wave to a clean, safe, prosperous
future for everyone.
Already, renewable energy and the price on
pollution have effectively taken the place of 3,000
megawatts worth of coal-fired power generation.
Power companies and industry groups are
lobbying for cuts to the RET. Energy providers
continue to peddle coal, oil and gas as a solution,
despite health risks to communities, ever-rising
pollution levels and the damage posed
to places we love when we dig them up.
Naturally, they have an interest in slowing support
for clean energy. Their most vibrant, efficient
and nimble competitors are companies that are
retailing clean energy. These promising upstarts
are undermining the development and growth of
the big polluters. Thus, opposing investment in
renewables is their short-term meal ticket.
For instance, some energy providers continue
to claim renewable energy is driving up
electricity prices. The Productivity Commission
released its findings in October 2012, reporting
the main contributor to rising electricity prices
is ‘gold plating’ — spending on pole and wire
infrastructure to deliver electricity into homes
in peak periods when air conditioners chew
through our electricity grid.
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Energy Australia and Origin Energy have claimed the RET will
lead to additional costs to government and energy customers.
What they choose not to mention is that some electricity providers
were wrong-footed on clean energy, missing their chance
to get in early on wind power. Wind is now the most competitive
source of clean energy in the market. Nor do they state that in
the last five years they have considerably invested in gas, which
they promote as a ‘transition’ fuel.
The argument to reduce or scrap the RET was lost when the Climate
Change Authority showed modelling demonstrating that exceeding
the 20 per cent target will save $4.4 billion and have no
significant impact on average household bills, contrary to the
claims of the big power companies.
Federal government modelling shows a RET helps us generate
46 per cent of total power from clean energy in 2030, with a
further 15 per cent from the properly unshackled CEFC. What
that means is that with a little effort, it’s possible for Australia
to generate at least 60 per cent of its power from clean energy by
2030 without a single new policy.
All we need is the long-term commitment to power it.
A renewed
NBM-VQ26-CMYK.pdf 1 7/12/12 11:54 AM
energy high
Abigail Jabines
Australia is primed for a clean, vibrant economy.
solar energy
> Australia has the highest average
solar radiation of any
continent.
> A 50 square kilometre area in
the outback is estimated to
receive enough solar energy
to power the country.
> There are currently over
750,000 homes with roof-top
solar and it is estimated to
reach one million within 12
months.
> The first utility-scale solar farm
in Western Australia opened
in October 2012 and can generate
enough power for 3,000
homes.
wind energy
> South Australia has 15 wind farms operating
across the state which is half of the
country’s installed wind capacity.
> The country’s first community-owned
wind farm in Victoria (Hepburn Community
Wind Park Co-operative) can
generate enough power for 2,300 homes.
geothermal energy
> Efficiently harnessing just one per cent
of Australia’s geothermal resources can
power the country’s electricity needs
more than 26,000 times over.
wave energy
> Studies show that energy from the ocean
could supply 10 per cent of Australia’s
demand by 2050.
For more information visit www.acfonline.org.au/climate-change