Mount Majura Solar Farm - the National Capital Authority

2.3Legislative ContextCOMMONWEALTH MANDATORY RENEWABLE ENERGY TARGETThe Commonwealth Government’s Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) scheme was establishedin 2001 to expand the renewable energy market and increase the amount being utilised in Australia'selectricity supply. The MRET targeted the generation of an additional 9,500 GWh of extra renewableelectricity per year by 2010.The Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme is an expansion of the MRET and has been established toencourage additional generation of electricity from renewable energy sources to meet the Government’scommitment to achieving a 20% share of renewables in Australia’s electricity supply in 2020. The RETlegislation:places a legal liability on wholesale purchasers of electricity to proportionally contribute to anadditional 45,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) of renewable energy per year by 2020.sets the framework for both the supply and demand of renewable energy certificates (RECs)via a REC market.This means a total of 45,000 GWh of electricity will need to be sourced from renewables, requiring anadditional 8,000 - 10,000 MW of new renewable energy generators to be built across Australia by 2020. TheRET also assures that national greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to meet CommonwealthGovernment targets.ACT GOVERNMENT LEGISLATIONAs discussed in Chapter 2.2 above, in 2008, the ACT Government enacted the Electricity Feed-In(Renewable Energy Premium) Act, through which the Proposed Works have been granted medium scalefeed-in tariff approvals by ActewAGL in concert with the ACT Government’s Environment and SustainableDevelopment Directorate (ESDD).2.4Planning ContextNATIONAL CAPITAL PLANThe Proposed Site is identified by the National Capital Plan as being within the National Capital Open SpaceSystem (NCOSS). The NCOSS protects nationally significant open space framework, visual backdrop andlandscape setting for the National Capital. The NCOSS is intended to “blend city and country in a way thatsymbolises the character of the National Capital and provides a balanced range of uses which reinforces thenatural, cultural, scenic and recreational values of the ACT”.10Mount Majura Solar Farm – Works Approval Submission