Guidelines for growing renewable energy in Victoria
Four easy ways to grow renewable energy in Victoria, REneweconomy, By Leigh Ewbank on 12 August 2015 With the Abbott government sabotaging Australia’s clean energy future, states such as Victoria must step up and lead on renewable energy.
The uncertainty unleashed by the Abbott government has cost Australia’s renewable energy sector dearly. On the Prime Minister’s watch, investment has collapsed by 90 per cent and over 2,500 people working in the sector have lost their job.
Not content with its savage 20% cut to the national Renewable Energy Target, the Abbott government has dictated to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation that it can no longer invest in wind farms and rooftop solar power.
This is the context in which the Daniel Andrews government is developing its Renewable Energy Action Plan to grow the sector and jobs in Victoria.
The Andrews government has been sending all the right signals when it comes to renewable energy. It was elected with a commitment to repeal the Baillieu-era restrictions on wind farms. And it delivered on the commitment just months after taking office.
To date, the Andrews government has provided financial support for the Newstead community in it pursuit to be 100 per cent renewable by 2017, as well as a 30-KW community solar project in Woodend. It has also established a $20 million New Energy Fund to encourage investment in renewable energy and cleantech projects.
The Andrews government’s Renewable Energy Action Plan is due for release later in 2015 and will build on these positive first steps.
“We will do whatever we need to do to increase the total percentage of energy generated from clean sources but also do whatever we can to create more jobs,” Premier Andrews said while visiting the Ararat wind farm.
There are some straightforward ways the Victorian government can increase renewables before it announces its comprehensive plan.
1. Renewable energy powered government
The Victorian government is a large purchaser of electricity. Putting a Power Purchase Agreement to tender could see it powered by renewable energy.
The collective demand for electricity from all those office buildings, schools, and hospitals, etc, could be enough to see a medium-sized wind farm built. And with over 2,000MW of wind farms already approved, there’s plenty of competition among developers to deliver the best value for the public.
All available public polling shows renewable energy is incredibly popular. The community would welcome a renewable energy-powered government.
2. Renewable energy powered public transport Putting another spin on the government signing PPAs, Melbourne’s public transport system is another large user of electricity. So why don’t we power our trains and trams with clean renewable energy?
Documents obtained by Fairfax in 2014 found that Metro Trains was the state’s second largest carbon emitter. And the City of Melbourne says trams make up 10 percent of the city’s transport emissions. These statistics point to the sizable renewable energy projects that would be required for a zero-emission transport system.
A proposal for solar powered trams is already on the table.
3. Streamline wind farm planning…….. 4. Redirect fossil fuel subsidies to renewables and cleantech………Next steps…….. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/four-easy-ways-to-grow-renewable-energy-in-victoria-79186
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of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 
Unless all the people of Australia step up and challenge the Abbott government’s sabotaging of Australia’s clean energy future, states such as Victoria must take lead on renewable energy.
Because Australia is similar to Europe, why not have one part of Australia like Victoria, lead the race to clean safe Non-Nuclear Energy just like Germany is doing in Europe?
The first to go Renewable, Non-Nuclear will be the first to offer its citizens a safe, low cost energy supply that will not only power their economy but create the most good jobs for its citizens. Germany also receives most of its Energy from all the “small” private Energy generators that feed their Grid, not just a few Big Utilities, so the German people get to profit from the Energy they produce.
While this model may not benefit Big Utilities shareholders, it does allow a large number of German homeowners to pay off their Solar investments much faster which then allows them to enjoy “free” Solar Energy from then on. It is no wonder that electric Vehicles (eVehicles) are selling fast, since they too can be recharged using residential Solar which eliminates paying high prices for gas or fuel at the gas station.
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It is no surprise that ever more people are starting to question the cost of their Energy and/or their reliance upon Big Utilities to supply that Energy, since they continually raise prices keeping ratepayers in “Energy Slavery”. Solar (of all flavors) provides a pathway toward “Energy Freedom” (once the loan is paid off) with little to no Utility bills for decades to come, which is why Big US Corp.s (like Apple, Google and Walmart) are now installing their own Solar farms.
Solar also can provide charging for eVehicles which again offer a path toward no more buying gas or fuel at the pump. BTW: Electric Motorcycles that can be driven on the highway cost about a penny a mile to operate* and require little to no maintenance as compared to an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) Motorcycles.
* http://www.zeromotorcycles.com…
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