Antinuclear

That is the message from a report that makes the alternative case, suggesting embracing clean energy could dramatically expand the electricity, mining and mineral processing industries while reducing living costs.

It says the NT economy could be transformed through incentives for renewable-powered manufacturing and downstream minerals processing, targets for mines to transition to 100% clean energy and electric machinery by 2030 and support for Indigenous communities to be equity partners in zero-carbon developments. It calls on the NT and federal governments to fund common infrastructure to turn what is known as the 10-gigawatt vision into a reality – for example, transmission lines connecting Darwin and Alice Springs to allow clean energy developments in remote locations.

Eytan Lenko, chairman of the thinktank Beyond Zero Emissions, commissioned the report while living in Darwin in 2018 after seeing divisions in the community between people concerned about the health of the economy and those opposed to fracking. He says the full plan would cost businesses about $20bn out to 2030 on today’s prices, though the scale of the investment is expected to fall as clean tech becomes cheaper. It estimates it could create more than 8,000 jobs and yield more than $2bn in annual export revenue.

Recommended projects range from immediately achievable to more ambitious, but Lenko says energy economics have shifted to a point where the entire plan is realistic with the right policy support. He points to cases where industrial sites have signed deals to run on solar rather than gas or diesel, which remain default fuels in the NT……. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/20/clean-energy-found-to-be-a-pathway-to-prosperity-for-northern-territory