Australia’s carbon scheme to boost markets
Carbon scheme to boost markets
Giles Parkinson | August 10, 2009Article from: The Australian“……………..Lagging behind in renewables
WITH the federal government’s Renewable Energy Target also facing a standstill in the Senate, there are growing concerns in the local renewable energy industry that the country is being left behind.There are billions of dollars of projects currently on hold, and while the government says it wants to be a leader in renewable technologies, other countries are marching ahead.China has recently upgraded its renewable energy target from 15 per cent to 20 per cent by 2020, which will translate to around 150 gigawatts of wind power, 20GW of solar power and 30GW of biomass power.India joined the push towards solar last week, announcing plans to install 20GW of solar capacity by 2020 — its reliance on an equivalent amount of diesel-sourced power means solar will be cost-competitive — with a grand plan to lift that to 200GW of solar by 2050.
“Everyone wants to be world leader,” says Ray Wills, head of the WA Sustainable Energy Association. “Other developed and developing nations are moving aggressively to develop their lesser renewable energy resources while Australia — with the world’s best resources — is lagging behind.”
In the US, the amount produced by renewable energy sources (11.1 per cent) has overtaken that of nuclear power (10.4 per cent), according to the latest data from the US Energy Information Administration.Professor Wills notes that $US155 billion was invested directly into clean-energy companies and projects worldwide in 2008, and total transactions in the sector, including acquisitions and buyouts, were $US223 billion. Precious little of that occurred in Australia.
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