New wave power technology set to boost economy in Port Fairy, Victoria
Hope for $21m Port Fairy prototype wave power unit to boost local jobs http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-02/hope-for-prototype-wave-power-unit-to-boost-port/6588930, 2 July 15
Moyne Shire Council says the construction of the state’s first prototype wave power unit off the Port Fairy coast, in south-west Victoria, is set to boost the local economy.
The $21 million project, which will be installed in November, is expected to feed 250 kilowatts of renewable energy into the national grid.Mayor Colin Ryan said it was a significant event for the renewable wave energy industry and Victoria.He is hoping it will create new jobs in the region.
“I’m very happy to hear the news, I think it’s a great opportunity for Port Fairy with potential work opportunities for our locals, be it employment directly involved with the project or service industries and businesses in the town supporting the workers that come for the project,” he said.
“It being the first type of its power generation is a significant event and being the first one in Victoria … to do with currents and it was the desired locality for the operation, which is good news.”
@Rottoturbine hits back at Abbott
“My European wind turbine friends are laughing at me. The government’s own review showed that more renewable energy would actually decrease costs for consumers.”
Rotto Wind Turbine uses Twitter to hit back at PM’s ‘ugly’ insults, WA Today, July 1, 2015 Emma Young Rottnest Wind Turbine is using Twitter to carry out a spirited self-defence against the insults of Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
@Rottoturbine now has more than 700 people following its tweets, which vary from wind energy-related links and information, banter about Mr Abbott’s “visually awful” description of turbines and pictures of generators against stunning rural backdrops, hashtagged #notvisuallyawful.
@Rottoturbine consented to share some of its views with Fairfax Media though an email interview, facilitated by its “human helper”, a Perth man in his thirties who the turbine says shares its concerns about renewable energy.
“I had been aware of negative views being expressed by some government Ministers about wind farms in general and this was concerning, but personal attacks against me were the last straw. Continue reading
Victoria, unlike USA, may slash solar tariff, rather than promote home solar
For intense, apart from avoided, line losses, there is no credit for network benefits, or environmental benefits. The contrast with some US states, where pricing regulators put the “fair” solar tariff at close to the retail price, is striking.
Regulator wants to slash Victoria solar tariff by 20 per cent http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/regulator-wants-to-slash-victoria-solar-tariff-by-20-per-cent-67417 By Giles Parkinson on 2 July 2015 Victorian energy regulator the Essential Services Commission has recommended that the minimum feed-in-tariff paid for surplus rooftop solar output fed back into the grid be cut to 5c/kWh from the current level of 6.2c/kWh in 2016.
The recommendation, included in a report released this week, suggest that the falling cost of wholesale electricity prices – coincidentally the result of reduced demand and increased renewable energy – justifies the cut. [good graph here on original] Continue reading
Taxpayers likely to cop the costs of Ranger uranium clean-up. if ERA goes bankrupt
as Ranger was authorised by the Commonwealth Government under 1953 Atomic Energy Act which primarily allowed the uranium to be used for military purposes, the Commonwealth and, ultimately the taxpayers, could be liable for the clean up if ERA was bankrupted.
ERA faces closure after uranium miner’s expansion plans shelved by Rio Tinto, ABC News, 30 June 15 By business reporter Stephen Letts Sorry history, uncertain environmental legacy Apart from the discharge of a million litres of radioactive slurry in 2013, Ranger has a sorry history of accidents with more than 200 environmental incidents being reported to government agencies since 1979.
Just how much Ranger’s clean-up will cost is open to question. Under existing legislation, once the lease expires early in 2021, ERA has five years to complete the rehabilitation program.
Gavin Mudd, a senior lecturer in environmental engineering at Monash University with a long standing interest in Ranger, argues there are problems calculating the final cost as it depends on a number of choices, including how long is an adequate period of monitoring radioactivity levels.
The level of radioactivity around the site is unlikely to be safe any time soon given the half-life of uranium-238 is 4.5 billion years. The half-lives of other principal radioactive components of mill tailings, thorium-230 and radium-226, are shorter at about 75,000 years and 1,600 years respectively, but it’s a rather academic distinction.
Currently there is not a stipulated period for monitoring levels of radiation at the site once the rehabilitation is completed. However, Dr Mudd said a monitoring program should be run over decades rather than years.
“Fifty years would be a good start,” he said. Continue reading
Local community funds Repower Shoalhaven renewable energy investment scheme
Repower Shoalhaven renewable energy investment scheme funded by locals, SMH, June 29, 2015 Kieran Gair First, it was the local bowling club. Then the churches. In the Shoalhaven, community solar power is on the rise.
Renewable energy is expected to supply almost 60 per cent of Australian electricity by 2040, according to research by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which found the fall in renewable energy prices would drive a shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
One community in NSW has already reaped the benefits of an early move to community-owned renewable energy. Non-profit Repower Shoalhaven installed Australia’s first investor-owned community solar project on the roof of the Shoalhaven Heads Bowling Club last year.
Repower raised $145,000 for the project in just two weeks, with 80 per cent of the cost coming from “mum and dad” investors.
The company has just completed its second community solar investment project in the Illawarra region on Figtree Anglican Church and Nowra City Church.
Head of Repower Shoalhaven Chris Cooper said demand for renewable energy is growing as it becomes cheaper. “People want clean energy and they want secure investments and previously there was no real opportunity to do that so we created a system where the community pays for the solar power system and the business repays community investors via a power purchase agreement.
The Repower solar financing model allows local businesses to purchase community-owned renewable energy at a cheaper rate than grid power.
Figtree Anglican Church member and University of Wollongong Sustainable Building Research Centre masters student Daniel Jones said community owned solar had significantly reduced the overall electricity costs associated with running the church…….http://www.smh.com.au/environment/repower-shoalhaven-renewable-energy-investment-scheme-funded-by-locals-20150629-ghwmmk.html
The end of the line for uranium company Energy Resources of Australia
ERA faces closure after uranium miner’s expansion plans shelved by Rio Tinto, ABC News, 30 June 15 By business reporter Stephen Letts ERA was once one of the world biggest uranium producers, supplying about 10 per cent of the global market for ‘yellowcake’ and powering electricity utilities in Japan, Europe and North America.
It’s now pretty well friendless as its last three independent directors resigned, leaving the company in the hands of its majority shareholder Rio Tinto.
Rio for its part said there is no future for ERA’s only productive asset, the Ranger Mine, which operates in the middle of the World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park.
With its existing open mine resources exhausted, ERA has been labouring on, processing stockpiled ore since late 2012.
Ranger’s last hope lay in an ambitious and expensive underground mine – the Ranger 3 Deeps project – which could have extended the mine’s life by another decade. That hope was extinguished earlier this month when Rio, with its 68 per cent stake in ERA, said enough was enough. The market was blindsided by Rio’s decision, with ERA’s share price tumbling more than 70 per cent in the aftermath.
In hindsight it was probably inevitable.
ERA’s losses mount to $700 million since 2011 Continue reading
Landcare group reports high radioactive gas levels at Iluka mine
Radioactive gas levels at Wimmera mining site near Horsham too high says Landcare group, ABC News, 30 June 15
A Wimmera Landcare group in south-western Victoria says monitoring it has done shows levels of radioactive gas at a mine near Horsham far exceed the maximum for public exposure.
The Kanagulk Landcare Group placed four radon gas monitors at properties surrounding Iluka Resources’ mining operations at Douglas over a three-month period.
It said analysis of the monitors’ data by Australia’s nuclear industry regulator, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, reveals levels of the gas were four times the limit.
The group’s Albert Miller said the State Government needed to step in…….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-29/fears-aired-over-radioactive-gas-levels-at-wimmera/6579670
Central Sydney blocked as marchers protest Aboriginal community closures
Australia: Sydney streets blocked by protest against Aboriginal community closures Warrior Publications by Calla Wahlquist, The Guardian, June 28, 2015
A protest against the closure of remote Aboriginal communities blocked streets in central Sydney on Sunday, as about 600 people marched against the Western Australian government’s plans to wind back support for communities it deems aren’t viable.
The protest began at Town Hall at 1pm on Sunday and moved toward The Block in Redfern, closing George, Lee, Regent and Lawson Streets on the way. t’s the third national call to action and the sixth time protests have shut down an Australian capital city in protest against the plan to overhaul funding to the state’s 247 remote Aboriginal communities, which the premier, Colin Barnett, has said will result in “significantly fewer” homelands communities remaining open……
At the same time, WA has developed its own “major reforms” for service delivery in remote Aboriginal communities, which is expected to lead to the closure, through withholding services from some communities, of a number of less populated communities over the next few years.
Details are scarce and the full model is yet to be worked out. Nominations for Aboriginal leaders to join the regional working groups intended to steer the reforms closed this month.
Protest organisers, rallied around the #SOSBLAKAUSTRALIA hashtag on social media, have been ramping up activities since Friday ahead of July 1 – the day federal funding to WA’s remote communities formally switches over to the state…….http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jun/28/sydney-streets-blocked-by-protest-against-wa-remote-community-closures https://warriorpublications.wordpress.com/2015/06/30/australia-sydney-streets-blocked-by-protest-against-aboriginal-community-closures/
Waste from logging native forests is NOT renewable energy
Abbott government’s RET returns Australia to dark ages of energy production https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/59312, June 26, 2015
The Australian Forests and Climate Alliance released this statement on June 23.
The Australian Forests and Climate Alliance (AFCA) has condemned today’s decision to make burning native forests eligible for Renewable Energy Certificates under the Renewable Energy Target.
“We are going back to using dirty medieval technology that pretends to be sustainable and clean”, said Jill Redwood of AFCA.
“In reality it will undermine real renewables like solar and wind. It will produce more emissions than burning coal and cause immense loss of ecosystems, wildlife and our greatest carbon stores. It’s hard to imagine a worse scenario.
“This is not about ‘waste’ from the forest floor, but is a deliberate waste of our forests. It is about financing the logging of forests as fuel for furnaces.
“The government has been doing grubby back room deals”, said Lorraine Bower from AFCA. “They have promised a Wind Farm Commissioner and tighter controls on wind power in return for the support of key cross bench senators for the wood ‘waste’ regulation.
“Perversely there is proven evidence that living near a biomass plant has major health risks, but none whatsoever have been found from living near a wind farm.”
“This regulation will simply prop up the dying and destructive native forest logging industry now that woodchips are out of favour with customers and the logging industry is 80% plantation based. To date electricity companies have undertaken not to sell ‘Dead Koala Power’. We will now do all we can to make sure people understand that they should steer clear of companies that sell it.”
“Government and UN agencies overseas are coming to the conclusion that this is not renewable energy’, said Redwood. “Investors and consumers are quickly consigning these polluting industries from the Dark Ages to the dustbin of history.”
Surge in solar power in Eastern Australia threatening sale price of power assets
Solar boom raises doubts on power asset sale THE AUSTRALIAN< ROSS KELLY
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL JUNE 30, 2015 When bidders crunch the numbers on a looming $26 billion auction of Australian power assets in one of the world’s biggest privatisation of this year, they would do well to cast their eyes upward, to the tops of apartment blocks and factories.
Business for fitters of rooftop solar panels in eastern Australia is flourishing as more households and companies choose to generate their own power rather than relying entirely on electricity from the grid.While solar remains a small part of the nation’s energy mix, accounting for about 2 per cent of electricity output, the industry’s growth in recent years is casting a shadow over the impending auction of power assets in New South Wales.
Demand for solar power began stirring around eight years ago, when expensive upgrades to the grid jacked up electricity bills while rooftop-panel prices were falling. The market has continued to grow despite easing in late 2010, when the state government started slashing generous subsidies for people who sold solar power back into the grid.
Now, many expect a strong pick-up with the launch of new batteries from Tesla Motors and others capable of storing substantially higher amounts of solar energy for use after sundown — and at prices that are expected to fall more within the reach of ordinary households. Batteries with weaker storage capabilities have been around for some time, but stronger ones have tended to be prohibitively expensive.
“Whether it takes 12 months, two years or five years, I believe battery storage will become viable,” said Matt Vella, managing director of MPV Solar, which turns over $5 million a year installing panels in sun-soaked Sydney suburbs. “When it does, it’ll be as big for the energy market as the shift from the fixed-line telephone to mobile phones.”
New South Wales last week invited first-round bids for a long-term lease of 49 per cent of the government’s power-transmission network…….
The problem for bidders is this: How do you value the poles and wires that crisscross the state if demand for solar panels and storage batteries surges? A recent survey commissioned by Morgan Stanley found 2.4 million households in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia states were willing to spend up to $10,000 each on a solar-panel installation, including the batteries. There were 7.8 million households in Australia in 2006, a total projected to rise to at least 11.4 million by 2031, according to the most recent count by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The worry for grid owners is that cheaper storage devices will take more people off their networks more often, forcing a ramp-up in prices to cover costs. And the higher rates go, the more appealing solar panels and other energy-saving gizmos, such as low-voltage lights, look.
“That’s when people start talking about the death spiral,” said Clinton Wood, director of Lighthouse Infrastructure, a Melbourne-based fund manager with investments in solar power.
To be sure, the rooftop solar market has been unstable and influenced by government regulation, even on a continent with the highest amount of solar radiation per square meter. It is also unclear how soon companies such as Tesla can drive the cost of batteries low enough to appeal to a mass market. Tesla’s “power-wall” batteries, which were launched in May and will be available later this year, will sell for as much as $4,500 and need to be integrated with solar panels and other devices. The cost of buying and installing the full package may be $26,000 or more.
The case for solar power is more clear-cut for businesses that use energy during the daytime. Sun Connect, which turns over tens of millions of dollars a year, decided three years ago to focus exclusively on the commercial market. Since then, the company says, revenue has tripled……..http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wall-street-journal/solar-boom-raises-doubts-on-power-asset-sale/story-fnay3ubk-1227421384047
Lynas Rare Earths shares at all-time low
A tiny paragraph on page 25 of the business section of The Age (print version 29/6/15) tells that Lynas shares have plunged. Meanwhile Alkane resources, near Dubbu, NSW, is launching mining of rare earths.
What The Age didn’t tell us, in this tiny paragraph – is what is happening about the reprocessing of these rare earths, and disposal of the highly radioactive wastes. . I’m pretty sure that in the case of Alkane – thi is to be done in China. China, having learned very much the hard way, has now become a lot more careful about these wastes.
In the case of Lynas, they plan to process the rare earths in Malaysia. Lynas has been vague on what they planned to do with the radioactive wastes. No wonder the Malaysians objected – as they too have in the past, suffered a rare earth’s wastes radioactive disaster. No wonder Lynas is struggling now.
Pro Nuclear Expert John Carlson warns on selling uranium to India
Expert warns SA that uranium supply deal with India could end up in its nuclear weapons, Perth Now June 28, 2015 TORY SHEPHERD Sunday Mail (SA) SOUTH Australians should be concerned that uranium from their backyard could end up in Indian nuclear weapons, one of Australia’s top experts says.
John Carlson was director general of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office, in the Department of Foreign Affairs, until 2010 and has held other posts on safeguarding radioactive elements.
Mr Carlson, who is pro-nuclear, told the Sunday Mail that the treaty being worked out for Australia to sell uranium to India was flimsy, and said South Australia’s people and companies should be concerned about where the state’s uranium ended up. ndia has huge demand for cheap energy, which Australian uranium can provide, but it is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and is developing weapons.
Mr Carlson said India had a history of disregarding commitments it had made, had refused to meet safety standards and “is actually increasing its nuclear arsenal”.
“This agreement is very different to all our other agreements. There’s much less detail in it. Only India, Pakistan and North Korea are producing weapons … you’d have to think this would be a watertight agreement (but) it’s very weak.
“I think there’s a reputational issue for the industry. There’s a problem for South Australian citizens.”…….http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/national/expert-warns-sa-that-uranium-supply-deal-with-india-could-end-up-in-its-nuclear-weapons/story-fnii5yv8-1227418016005
Australia’s New Climate Roundtable
Australian Climate Roundtable: Business, union, environmental, investor and welfare groups form unusual coalition on climate policy ABC News AM By AM business editor Peter Ryan 28 June 15 An unprecedented alliance of business, union, environmental, investor and welfare groups has been formed to forge what it sees as urgent common ground on climate policy.
The highly unusual coalition — to be branded the Australian Climate Roundtable — comes as developed nations gear up for the Paris Climate Conference in December, where leaders will be under pressure to update their strategies for dealing with climate change.
While Australia’s main political parties support the international goal of limiting climate change to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the alliance warns the objective will require “deep global reductions”.
The high-profile members cover some influential employer and industry lobby groups, such as the Australian Industry (Ai) Group, the Business Council of Australia (BCA), the Australian Aluminium Council, the Energy Supply Association and the Investor Group on Climate Change.
They will be joined by groups at the opposite end of the political and economic spectrum — the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), WWF Australia, the Australian Council of Social Service, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the Climate Institute.
In a statement, the Roundtable warned emissions reductions on the necessary scale would require “substantial change “and present “significant challenges” in Australia and other developed nations……..
Outlining its goals, the group said the “ideal” climate policy taken to the Paris conference should:
- be capable of achieving deep reductions in Australia’s net emissions;
- provide confidence that targeted emissions reductions actually occur;
- be based on the full range of climate risks;
- be well designed, stable and internationally linked;
- operate at least cost to the domestic economy; and
- remain efficient as circumstances change and Australia’s emissions reduction goals evolve.
Highlighting the social risks of climate policy and climate change, the Roundtable said climate policy must also:…… http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-29/australian-climate-roundtable-business-unions-policy-alliance/6579106
Trans Pacific Partnership – putting Australia’s democracy in a noose
Critics of the TPP recognise it is not so much aimed at promoting free trade but more at limiting government rights to deal with present and emerging problems, especially those associated with climate change and the environment. The TPP and the bilateral FTAs are seen as a sham, designed to facilitate the growth of the corporate state at the expense of the welfare state.
The vehicle for this rollback is the section dealing with Investor-State Dispute Settlement. The ISDS rules, administered by secret, ad hoc tribunals – whose members may alternate between judging disputes and advocating on behalf of corporations seeking compensation for future losses resulting from legislative change or court decisions – trump local democracy and law, according to the Chief Justice of the High Court…..
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is bad for Australia. SMH June 29, 2015 Kenneth Davidson Senior columnist at The Age The Productivity Commission appears to have tried to convince the government not to put Australia’s head into a noose via the TPP.
President Barack Obama now has the authority to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement without Congressional interference. The Abbott government is reluctant to challenge even the most odious provisions of the agreement, which pretends to be a regional trade pact involving the US and 11 other countries. It is in fact a push for US regional dominance with particular relevance to its rivalry with China. Continue reading
Legal win for Australia’s nuclear veterans
Radiation in court: landmark success for Australia’s nuclear veterans, Ecologist Chris Busby 24th June 2015A legal judgment in Australia has fatally damaged the ‘official’ ICRP model of health damage by nuclear radiation, writes Chris Busby – reflecting the fact that cancer originates through the mutation of individual cells, not whole organs or organisms. The ruling is good news for Britain’s bomb test veterans whose day in court is coming up; and for all who suffer radiation induced cancers.
At the end of last month the Veterans Appeals Tribunal Decision on the CaseJean Mahoney vs. Australian Repatriation Commission was published.
The result was a win for the appellant, setting aside of the earlier Australian government decision not to grant a pension to the widow of a veteran who worked among the ruins of Hiroshima and later died from metastatic colon cancer.
I was the expert witness in this case and persuaded the Australian Tribunal (in an expert report and with oral cross examination by telephone, Brisbane to Riga) that the radiation risk model of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) was not applicable to the kind of internal exposure to radioactive particles which her late husband, George Mahoney will have received. Continue reading
1 This month.
Australians deserve the truth
about
AUKUS – https://aukuspublicinquiry.com/
Australians deserve the truth
about AUKUS
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 