Australia not actually DOING much about solar thermal, but doing Research anyway
It would be better if Australia were to get going on building solar thermal power plants, rather than stick to just research for 8 years. Sort of a delaying tactic?
Australia’s CSIRO to lead solar thermal research initiative http://www.renewableenergymagazine.com/article/australia-s-csiro-to-lead-solar-thermal-20130218 Dan McCueMonday, 18 February 2013 Australia’s CSIRO is partnering with six Australian universities and the United States’ Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Sandia National Laboratories and Arizona State University on an eight-year solar thermal research initiative, which aims to lower the cost of solar thermal power from 25 to around 10 cents a kilowatt hour. Continue reading
Why the Australian Greens now dump their agreement with Labor (Video)
By choosing the big miners, the Labor government is making it clear to all that it no longer has the courage or the will to work with the
Greens on a shared agenda in the national interest.
By choosing the big miners, the Labor government is no longer honouring our agreement to work together to promote transparent and accountable government and the public interest or to address climate change……
(VIDEO) http://christine-milne.greensmps.org.au/content/news-stories/christine-milne-addresses-national-press-club Christine Milne addresses the National Press Club 9 Feb 2013 | Christine Milne Australian Democracy at the Crossroads: The mining industry and the quarry past versus the people and the innovative future. Australian democracy is at the crossroads. Our future as a nation, our sense of who we are and what we want for our society and local community is now being determined by mining billionaires in boardrooms for themselves and their overseas shareholders, and what they want, is being delivered through our state and federal parliaments. …..
For Premier Colin Barnett to threaten indigenous communities with the compulsory acquisition of their land in the interests of Woodside is wrong and shameful…..
Trust has gone.
What we are seeing is the mining industry versus the community. The greed of billionaire miners versus the public interest. The ALP government and the Liberal 
and National Opposition lining up to protect the interests of the mining corporations against the interests of the Australian community. It is the Australian Greens who are standing with the people, for the environment and for a safe climate…….
the biggest opportunity cost of the mining industry in capturing the Labor party and the Liberal National Coalition is that they are all actively preventing the transition to the sustainable, secure, happy and prosperous society and the economic framework necessary to underpin it in a world on track for 4 degrees.
They still don’t get the fact that we live in a society not an economy and that economic tools driving the fossil fuel age have to change because they are not delivering what society wants. Instead, they have delivered market failure and accelerating global warming. As IMF boss Christine Lagarde said recently, “Unless we take action on climate change future generations will be roasted, toasted fried and grilled.”…..
If Australia continues down the path of massive coal and coal port expansion, we risk stranded assets, jobs collapse, dislocation on a grand scale and super funds losing badly……
Labor cannot have it both ways. They cannot argue that they take the climate science seriously and at the same time subsidise massive mining and export of fossil fuels to the tune of $10 billion knowing that they are condemning our children and their grandchildren to a world of conflict, scarcity and climate disaster….But Tony Abbott and the Liberal National Coalition are right there beside the government backing these decisions and indicating they would go even further…..
How can PM Gillard or Tony Abbott pretend they care about food production and mouth support for the food bowl while destroying agricultural land and allocating vast quantities of ground water in the Murray Darling for coal seam gas?
….What we have got is the whole Labor cabinet and the entire Liberal and National parties prepared to ditch environmental regulation and hand it over to the states knowing full well that they cannot be trusted to look after the environment. The plan to hand back power to the states has gone quiet but it hasn’t gone away.
Without the Greens holding the balance of power in the Senate Australia risks: Continue reading
For 75% of breast cancer patients, genetics is not a factor. Environmental causes look more likely
This is a very important research finding. For decades, Australian women have been fed stories on how breast cancer is probably genetically caused. Each women is advised to look into the cancer background of her family. OK. Still a good idea.
So the cancer is supposed to be initiated from inside us. But how about environmental causes? How about the chemical bath in which we all swim? In food additives, in chemical sprays on fruit and vegetables. And how about ionising radiation – some from (often necessary) medical radiation, some from France’s Pacific atomic bomb testing 1960 to 1996?
We’re always being urged to donate to breast cancer research. How about some research into environmental causes of breast cancer?
Genetics not a factor in three-quarters of breast cancer cases Herald Sun, Susie O’Brien, 16 Feb 13, FAMILY history plays no role in breast cancer in three out of four women, a shock new Victorian survey has revealed.
Analysis of the breast screens of almost 20,000 women over two decades shows 72 per cent of women who got breast cancer had no family history of the disease.
The findings contradict the popular belief that genetics plays a key role in determining which one in nine women will get breast cancer….. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/genetics-not-a-factor-in-three-quarters-of-breast-cancer-cases/story-e6frf7kx-1226579439609
Mystery of Ben Zygier’s death: Australia calls on Israel to explain
“I need to know what the contact was between Australian agencies and those of Israel, and I need to see what the Israelis want to tell Australia,” Carr stated. “The key is to get all the information.”“…The Haaretz newspaper reported on Friday that Israel has agreed to pay millions in compensation to Zygier’s family.
A source told the newspaper that Israel agreed to pay millions of shekels several weeks ago, after an investigation concluded that Zygier’s death had been a suicide and before the affair was exposed by the Australian media….”
Australia wants Israel to provide details on death of ‘Prisoner X’ Feb 17, 2013 PressTV Australia has called on the Israeli regime to provide details about the death of an Australian-Israeli ‘Mossad agent’ who allegedly committed suicide in an Israeli prison in 2010.
Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr said on Sunday that the ministry was seeking answers in a “formal report” from the Tel Aviv regime over the circumstances surrounding the suspicious death of 34-year-old Ben Zygier known as ‘Prisoner X.’
On February 12, reporter Trevor Bormann revealed on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that the prisoner who had worked for Mossad for ten years was “found hanged in a cell with state-of-the-art surveillance systems” near Tel Aviv in December 2010. Carr told reporters in Sydney that the Australian government had “asked” the Israeli regime “for a contribution to that report.”
The Australian foreign minister said Canberra wanted Tel Aviv to “submit… an explanation of how this tragic death came about.”
“I need to know what the contact was between Australian agencies and those of Israel, and I need to see what the Israelis want to tell Australia,” Carr stated. “The key is to get all the information.”
Following the ABC revelation, the Tel Aviv regime was forced to admit that Zygier had been jailed under a false identity “for security reasons” despite nearly two years of Israel’s efforts to cover up the secret.
on February 14, a report by the New York Times said Zygier was among the 26 suspects in a murder plot in which Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a Hamas official, was tracked and killed in his hotel room hours after his arrival in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, in January 2010.
The assassins had reportedly used fake passports from Australia, Britain, Ireland, Germany and France, among other countries.
The report added that ‘Prisoner X’ had provided the officials in Dubai with “names and pictures and accurate details” in exchange for protection.
However, the Israeli regime kidnapped him from his hideout and jailed him over treason nearly a month after the operation over the speculation that he had been on the verge of exposing Tel Aviv’s secrets about the passports. http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/17/289354/israel-should-explain-prisoner-x-death/
An insightful interview with Julian Assange – Senate candidate for Australia’s 2013 election
Set aside the cheap diatribes and what you think of Julian Assange as a person, or whether he’s done this or not achieved that. The fact is that electoral victory for him later this year would be one of those rare political miracles that make life as a citizen worth living.
In a country weighed down by sub-standard politicians, sub-standard journalists and sub-standard freedom of information laws, the political triumph would be great. It would breathe badly-needed life into Australian democracy. And, yes, if the miracle happened, from that very moment the fun party down under would begin.
Lunch and dinner with Julian Assange, in prison, The Conversation, John 
Keane, Professor of Politics at Sydney University, 18 Feb 13, Everybody warned this would be no ordinary invitation, and they were right. Three hundred metres from Knightsbridge underground station, just a stone’s throw from fashion-conscious Harrods, I suddenly encounter a wall of police…..Through a set of double doors, I’m confronted by more police officers, this time armed, with meaner faces…… The silver-haired “high-tech terrorist” (Joe Biden’s description) appears quietly,…. Calm, witty, clear-headed throughout, he’s in a talkative mood. But there’s no small talk….
Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest fights Cauldron Energy for uranium mining rights
Billionaire Miner Fights Rivals to Halt Digs on His Ranch. Business Week. By Elisabeth Behrmann and Joe Schneider on February 17, 2013 Andrew Forrest, Australia’s richest man who made his fortune digging up iron ore, is fighting bids to exploit the mineral wealth under his own half-a-million acre family ranch in the nation’s remote northwest outback.
Forrest, 51, founder and executive chairman of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd., the biggest seller of high-yield debt in the mining industry, sued to block attempts to search for uranium on his Minderoo ranch and last month failed in a bid to halt sand mining on the property….
“In Australia, by law, you only own the top meter, everything underneath, that is owned by the people of Australia,” Peter Strachan, a resources analyst at Perth-based StockAnalysis, said in a phone interview. “If someone puts in a request to explore on your land, you have to deal with that and make sure you’re compensated for access.”…..
Forrest is also fighting on a second legal front. Cauldron Energy Ltd., chaired by another mining entrepreneur, Tony Sage, applied for exploration licenses over some of Minderoo on April 4 for its Yanrey uranium project. Forrest & Forrest filed objections on May 8. A hearing date hasn’t been set yet………http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-02-17/billionaire-miner-fights-rivals-to-halt-digs-on-his-ranch
Was Australian Ben Zygier about to blow the whistle on Israel’s Mossad?
Mossad agent known as prisoner X linked to killing of Hamas leader: Report http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/15/289034/prisoner-x-linked-to-hamas-chief-murder/ 15 Feb 13, The Australian-Israeli ‘Mossad agent’ who has become known as ‘Prisoner X’ may have been linked to the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai in 2010, the same year he was found dead in a maximum security jail near Tel Aviv, a report says.
According to a report by the New York Times quoting the Kuwaiti daily Al Jarida on Thursday, Ben Zygier, identified as Prisoner X, was among the 26 suspects in a murder plot in which Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a Hamas official, was tracked and killed in his hotel room hours after his arrival in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, in January 2010.
The assassins had reportedly used fake passports from Australia, Britain, Ireland, Germany and France, among other countries.
The report added that ‘Prisoner X’, who apparently spent a decade working for Mossad, had provided the officials in Dubai with “names and pictures and accurate details” in exchange for protection.
However, the Israeli regime kidnapped him from his hideout and jailed him over treason nearly a month after the operation over the speculation that he had been on the verge of exposing Tel Aviv’s secrets about the passports.
Australian media also quoted a security official familiar with the case as saying that Zygier “may well have been about to blow the whistle, but he never got the chance.” Continue reading
Kow towing to USA and Israel, Australian government failed Ben Zygier, as it failed David Hicks
We failed our duty’ to Prisoner X http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/we-failed-our-duty-to-prisoner-x-20130214-2eg06.html#ixzz2L0Juuy7X February 15, 2013 David Wroe The Melbourne man dubbed ”Prisoner X” received no consular assistance from Australian officials despite the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade having been told of his detention by Israeli authorities nearly 10 months before he killed himself in jail.
And Australia’s forgiving response to Israel’s failure to formally advise that it had jailed dual-citizen Ben Zygier could imperil other dual citizens arrested in other countries, a top international law expert says.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr revealed on Thursday that ASIO informed the department in February 2010 that Israeli authorities were holding Mr Zygier because of ”serious offences under Israeli national security legislation”. He told a Senate estimates hearing the government had ”relied on” assurances by Israel that Mr Zygier was being well treated, that his family knew of his detention and that he was getting legal representation.
Mr Varghese said because Mr Zygier was a dual national, he was ”not under the relevant conventions” and there was ”no obligation on the Israeli government to commit to prison visits”.
But Australian National University international law professor Don Rothwell said Israel had broken the international convention on consular relations – and Mr Varghese’s response could imperil other dual citizens.
”If Mr Varghese is making that concession, it’s a very significant concession with respect to every other country where Australia has dealings with dual nationals at the moment, and, in particular, China,” he said.
Senator Milne asked: ”My question is just why did the Australian government hand over the welfare of one of our citizens to the spooks? Why?”
David Hicks’ former lawyer, Dan Mori, now with the Australian firm Shine Lawyers, said Australia had failed in its basic duty to look out for one of its citizens. ”It boggles my mind that they sit back and not say, ‘He’s one of our citizens and we’re not going to have a consular visit?’ ” he said. ”You would want them to at least put eyes on them. It’s that basic service.”
In several developments on the case, senators grilled the minister and secretary over what the government knew and when.
Senator Carr’s office admitted the Minister’s incorrect statements to the ABC and Fairfax Media that his department knew nothing of the case until after Mr Zygier had died in December 2010 had been based on written advice from DFAT.
The ABC’s Foreign Correspondent sent Senator Carr’s office written questions prior to his interview for the program, which had been forwarded on to the department. Yet the department replied with incorrect answers.
Campaign for an Iraq War Inquiry – Australia must prevent prevent another undemocratic venture into war
now, 10 years later, we need to ask ourselves how the Australian government was able to ignore the public expression of outrage about its intentions. The key lesson we must learn is to ensure that Australian governments can never again commit our forces on the decision of a leader in the face of opposition from millions of Australian citizens, without even our Parliament being consulted.
For democracy’s sake, let’s talk about our war in Iraq http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/for-democracys-sake-lets-talk-about-our-war-in-iraq-20130213-2ed6y.html#ixzz2Kw2oP4iF February 14, 2013 Sue Wareham
An inquiry would help us avoid repeating mistakes made 10 years ago. The largest anti-war demonstrations in Australian history began 10 years ago today – February 14, 2003.
Millions of people protested worldwide, in about 800 cities – including in Australia, Britain, Italy, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, the United States, Canada, South Africa, Syria, India, Russia, South Korea, Japan, and even McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Continue reading
Tony Abbott regurgitates USA’s Tea Party’s words, on climate change
A bill on a carbon price is to be introduced into the US Senate as early as today (US time) by independentSenator Bernie Sanders and Democrat Barbara Boxer. Details are scant, but it seems likely to be a form of carbon tax that would impose a “fee on carbon pollution emissions” and fund “historic investments in energy efficiency and sustainable energy technologies such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass”. It would provide rebates to consumers to offset any efforts by oil, coal or gas companies to raise prices.
Sounds a lot like Australia’s scheme.
Obama’s climate push leaves Abbott out in the cold, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson 14 February 2013 Here’s a statistic that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, the former trainee Catholic seminarian who insists that no other nation is pricing carbon, might find interesting. The number of people living in countries with carbon taxes or emission trading schemes will rise to about one billion by the end of the year. There are almost as many of them in the world as there are Catholics.
Abbott may wish this fact out of existence, but if US President Barack Obama has his way — as announced in his State of the Union (SOTU) address yesterday – and the world’s biggest economy introduces a market-based system to limit carbon emissions, that global carbon headcount would jump by 300 million or so by the end of 2014.
If China goes ahead with its pilot carbon schemes in a bunch of provinces and cities, and prepares for a wider scheme, that would add another 1.4 billion. Abbott may find himself taking Australian voters to a double dissolution election — where he would seek to win what would would effectively be a referendum on climate action — by pretending the world is not acting on climate change. To paraphrase and lightly censor a remark made by Climate Change Minister Greg Combet yesterday, it’s a load of bollocks.
So what did Obama say yesterday?
“I urge this Congress to get together, pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few years ago. But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.”
Obama was expected to focus on climate change policies in SOTU, after making it a central point of his inauguration address, but the fact that he so specifically championed cap-and-trade has taken many by surprise…….. Continue reading
Energy 2029 – an initiative of Western Australia’s Greens, led by Sen Scott Ludlam
WA Greens Launch Energy 2029 http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3592, 14 Feb 13, Western Australia’s Greens say its Energy 2029 study offers credible scenarios for meeting the state’s south-west grid electricity demand through clean technologies and energy efficiency strategies that already exist.
The solar based scenario focuses on large-scale solar thermal facilities that provide the majority of dispatchable electricity, with balance of demand supplied by large-scale wind farms, solar PV and a smaller number of biomass, wave and geothermal generators.
In the event of a number of cloudy days and calm conditions, backup electricity would be provided by biomass ‘co-firing’ at the solar plants, pumped hydro storage and a small number of mid-tier biomass plants.
The Greens say the overall cost of a planned transition to renewable energy is similar to the cost of continuing with a ‘business as usual’ approach as while the initial costs are higher for renewables, they become more competitive over time as future fuel costs are non-existent, except for the biomass backup.
“The debacle of the refurbishment of the obsolete Muja coal-fired power station demonstrates the underlying cost of business as usual, with Western Australians asked to spend a quarter of a billion dollars to upgrade a highly polluting coal fired power station,” states the study summary.
“… the only barrier to a massive increase in clean energy here in Western Australia, is political inertia.”
The Energy 2029 initiative has been led by Senator Scott Ludlam.
“This study is a project that we should not have had to undertake,” he states in the executive summary. “Perhaps people who come across this document deeper into the age of climate change will shake their heads at the degree to which we have to contend with the monetary costs of the transition.”
With regard to nuclear options, “There is no place in this study for the obsolete failures of the nuclear industry.”
The full Energy 2029 report can be viewed here (PDF).
Solar pholtovoltaic energy plant planned for Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
Investec plans 50MW solar PV plant near Kalgoorlie, REneweconomy By Giles Parkinson 13 February 2013 Global banking and asset management group Investec is working on a proposal to build a 50MW solar PV power plant near Kalgoorlie, in what is likely to be the first solar plant of its size in Australia.
Investec is hopeful of sealing land tenure at Mungari, about 26kms from Kalgoorlie, in the next month or so, and then will go to market to seek a power purchase agreement and lock in project finance. Construction on the project could begin next year.
The Mungari project is one of two currently being studied by Investec in WA – the other being the Chapman solar PV project near Geraldton, which was originally billed as a solar hybrid but may emerge as a solar PV only project.
WA is emerging as one potentially of the hottest regions for the utility scale solar industry, thanks to its excellent solar resources and relatively high electricity prices.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance last week said that solar PV plants in WA would have an estimated levellised cost of energy of around $157/MWh, compared to more than $190/MWh for new coal-fired generation in the state, where the cost of coal is expensive. BNEF expects the LCOE of solar PV to fall below $100/MWh by 2020.
Despite this, and helping fund the country’s first utility scale solar plant, a 10MW facility near Geraldton, the conservative state government is focused on new coal-fired generators, and is currently restoring its ageing Muja coal fired generator near Collie (and facing a major cost blow-out).Investec project manager Lynne Lagan said Kalgoorlie made sense because of its excellent solar resources and its location at the edge of the South-West Interconnected System – the grid that services the south west corner of the state.
Lagan said there was a single 220kW line going to Kalgoorlie, so a limited amount of generation could be brought in. “It makes sense to put some generation in this part of the network,” she told RenewEconomyby phone from Kalgoorlie on Tuesday.
“That’s why chosen this location. We been working on project for 18 months on land tenure and we are now looking to finalise those arrangements.”
Lagan said Investec’s numbers on the cost of the solar plant were about the same as Bloomberg New Energy Finance. And she noted there was a huge amount of interest from miners, many who operate on remote locations but are forced to truck in gas or diesel at horrendous costs – often at around 400/MWh or even more. Building this plant could open up further opportunities.
“This sort of project makes sense regardless of whether it considered as a “renewables” project,” she said. “There is a lot of expensive diesel generation here and we are having discussions with some of mining operations. They just want power that makes sense at a sensible price.”……
City of Kalgoorlie Boulder CEO Don Burnett told ABC radio that the region was a perfect and secure location for a large scale solar station because of the guaranteed sunshine.
“It’s a great location for a solar proposal and the benefits to the city and the region would be immense, but also it’s a great opportunity for the state and federal governments to be involved in innovation in sustainable energy.” http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/investec-plans-50mw-solar-pv-plant-near-kalgoorlie-22039
University of Newcastle linked with coal industry – but it’s time for the Hunter Valley to go renewable energy
The Greens understand the challenges ahead and have acted responsibly
in negotiating a $10billion clean energy investment fund. This is the
closest we have in Australia to a sovereign wealth fund, to use some
of the considerable wealth we have generated now and invest it in the
future of our children and our communities.
The Hunter has long been a hub of renewable energy innovation and
entrepreneurship. A transition to a clean, renewable energy economy
promises to revitalise Australian manufacturing and create thousands
of new jobs in many rural and regional communities, including the
Hunter’s coal communities.
But we need to shift subsidies away from fossil fuels and towards
renewables if we are to do this.
The writers of Monday’s opinion piece were obviously not aware the
University of Newcastle had commercial links with coalmining.
Renewable energy Hunter’s best future
http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1296245/opinion-renewable-energy-hunters-best-future/?cs=308
By CATE FAEHRMANN, 14 Feb 13, PEOPLE are rightly sick and tired of the childish
mud-slinging that now plagues Australian politics. So how about a bit
of honesty and even some vision for the future of the Hunter?
Readers would have been left scratching their heads this
week about why a pro-vice-chancellor (Professor Scott Holmes) and
researcher (Sam Bright) at the University of Newcastle would both
misrepresent the energy and mining policies of the Greens and
undermine his own institution’s research program to reduce reliance on
fossil fuels.
The Hunter’s coal communities are proud communities. Over more than a
century, the workers and their families of Cessnock, Muswellbrook,
Maitland and Singleton have created a booming economy for their
communities and for the Hunter.
Along the way, our knowledge about the impacts of coalmining has grown
and we now know that there are significant health and environmental
issues involved, not the least being the insidious clouds of coal dust
now blanketing communities and the very real, worldwide challenge to
reduce greenhouse pollution.
Tackling climate change means our dependency on coal as an export
earner and as a domestic fuel will have to be phased out over the next
few decades, rather than ramped up.
This will mean necessary changes for the whole national economy, and
for coal-affected regions such as the Hunter. The challenges
associated with this change are significant, but not insurmountable. Continue reading
Port Augusta, South Australia – ideal for solar thermal power plant, not for just a cheap solar booster for coal
What’s really needed is a solar thermal plant with molten storage, in
fact it is the only option if repowering Port Augusta is to be more
than just a green-washing option. The plant needs at least six hours
of storage in order to accommodate the evening peak
CLIMATE SPECTATOR: Don’t waste solar energy on coal, Business
Spectator, Matthew Wright, 14 Feb 2013 Port Augusta is the ideal
location in South Australia for a solar thermal power plant, due to
its very good direct annual solar radiation and its proximity to a
strong piece of grid infrastructure that services the old lignite
burning power plants that are located there, owned by Alinta.
There has been a campaign for some time to repower Port Augusta, after
the town was named as one of 12 key power generation sites in the Zero
Carbon Australia stationary energy plan.
This campaign has garnered a lot of support and gained a great deal of momentum.
But now we’re at a turning point where we may get a type solar thermal
plant that is of little use in promoting a shift away from fossil
fuels. A plant that will not create an inspiring vision, nor support
greater understanding and learning-by-doing that will shift us from a
19th century fossil fuel economy, to a 21st century renewable-powered,
cleantech economy.
The plant being proposed is a cheaper option being proposed by
electricity company Alinta. But buyer beware – you get what you pay
for.
The marketing name sounds alright – it’s a “solar booster”. The idea
is that steam is preheated in a solar thermal mirror field then fed
into the steam cycle of the existing coal fired power plant.The
problems with this are many and varied and it would be far better to
invest in a 100 per cent solar thermal plant independent of coal, with
molten salt energy storage**.
Lock-in of inferior technology Continue reading
Just about a million small solar panel systems in Australia – top solar postcodes
956,000+ Small Solar Panel Systems In Australia http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3587 12 Feb 13,
The number of small solar power systems installed in Australia has grown by more than 300,000 since the end of 2011.
Recently published data from the Clean Energy Regulator relating to systems installed under the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme shows the nation’s rooftops collectively host at least 956,193 solar panel arrays as at January 31 this year. At the end of 2011, there were 644,045 systems.
The true current installation figure is higher – Renewable Energy Target (RET) legislation allows a 12 month creation period for Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs), so 2013 and 2012 figures will continue to rise due to this 12-month window.
The systems represent 2,308,026 kW of solar power capacity – enough to provide all the power needs for around 461,000 average Australian homes.
Australia’s top 20 solar PV postcodes and number of installations as at January 31, 2013: Continue reading
1 This month.
20 September –National Day of Action in Melbourne on the International Day of Peace
Help Aunty Sue Protect Her Land and Sacred Sites From Destructive Rocket Testing.
.
Australians deserve the truth
about
AUKUS – https://aukuspublicinquiry.com/
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 