McKinley Shire, Queensland, promotes local business with renewable energy initiative
McKinlay Shire in north-west Queensland sheds light on solar cost-saving plans for council, traders http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-30/mckinlay-shire-sheds-light-on-solar-panels-plan/6898430 By Zara Margolis A north-west Queensland council has begun the second stage of a plan to help local businesses reduce their power bills. The McKinlay Shire has awarded a contract to a renewable energy company to install solar panels on nine local businesses and some council buildings.
Mayor Belinda Murphy said the company was finalising the solar designs, which should be installed by the end of the year. “The whole aim of council’s approach with this was really triggered by drought initially as well,” she said. “As I’ve said before, there is help for landholders but there has certainly been no direct help and support for businesses in these rural towns. “We identified this about 18 months ago and they were the ones who told us their biggest impacts are freight and power.”
Councillor Murphy said the panels would also be installed at a number of council assets. “Even just from a council perspective we’re going to have a projected power cost saving of around $60,000 per annum,” she said.
“Now we have a power cost annually of around $340,000, so that’s nearly a 20 per cent saving which council can then use to put back into other services, the community, other assets or into reserve.”
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’s legal action against coal port at Abbot Point
Seed – Risking the Reef Campaign http://www.seedmob.org.au/risking_the_reef
“Right now, there’s currently a proposal to build the world’s biggest coal port on the Great Barrier Reef at Abbot Point. If built it would unlock the Galilee basin – one of the largest reserves of coal in the world.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are already facing the impacts of climate change today, we need to be moving beyond coal and gas and transitioning to clean renewable energy, not digging up more of our sacred land. This means ensuring the proposed Abbot Point port expansion,
subsequent railway line and coal mines don’t go ahead. …
The Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners have launched a legal case in the Federal Court to reject this project. … We’re sending a clear message to the banks that if they invest in reef and climate destruction, then were dumping them. …
Take action now by heading to riskingthereef.org.au “
Barrier Reef to become a fossil fuel highway – Senator Larissa Waters
Qld Senator Larissa Waters, Greens Deputy Leader & climate change spokesperson:
Abbot Point EIS confirms Palaszczuk Government’s agenda to turn Reef into a coal highway http://larissa-waters.greensmps.org.au/content/media-releases/abbot-point-eis-confirms-palaszczuk-government%E2%80%99s-agenda-turn-reef-coal-highwa 27 Oct 15:
“The Palaszczuk Government’s lodgement of the Abbot Point coal port expansion final Environmental Impact Statement with Minister Hunt today, confirms it’s forging ahead with its agenda to turn the Great Barrier Reef into a fossil fuel highway.
“The Palaszczuk Government is continuing to do Adani’s dirty work for it,” Qld Senator Larissa Waters Australian Greens Deputy Leader and climate change spokesperson, said. “Labor has paid for this environmental impact statement with taxpayers money, when usually the company itself foots the
bill.
“And now Labor is set to pay for the dredging in this World Heritage Area to create one of the biggest coal ports in the world, which will turn the Reef into a highway for coal ships.
“There’s no guarantee we will get this money back – Adani is mortgaged to the hilt and hasn’t attracted any finance for its Carmichael coal mine. In fact 14 banks internationally have ruled out financing it. …
“Queenslanders care deeply about our Great Barrier Reef and halting global warming. The unprecedented amount of public submissions to the EIS, at 55 000, is testament to
Queenslanders’ love for the Reef. “So many Queenslanders are deeply disappointed that the
Palaszczuk Government has turned out to be just as bad as the Newman Government when it comes to treating our Reef as a highway for climate-destroying fossil fuels,” Senator Waters said.”
Senator Larissa Waters,
Australian Greens Deputy Leader & environment spokesperson
http://larissa-waters.greensmps.org.au/
Queensland’s huge wind solar plant goes ahead
Australia’s First Wind/Solar Plant To Be Built In Queensland October 28, 2015 Energy Matters Construction of a $140 million combined wind and solar energy facility in North Queensland is expected to begin within a year.
Kennedy Energy Park will go ahead as a result of a 50/50 joint venture agreement between Canberra-based Windlab Limited and Japan’s Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation.
The first stage of the Kennedy Energy Park will see 6 wind turbines and 64,000 solar panels installed. The wind turbines used will have the largest span in Australia – 136 metres in diameter. The first stage of the park will generate enough power to supply more than 25,000 Queensland homes.
The second stage will involve 1200 MW of renewable energy capacity; enough to meet most of the state’s contribution to Australia’s Renewable Energy Target.
Windlab Chief Executive Officer, Roger Price, says Kennedy Energy Park will be able to match North Queensland’s’ current energy demand profile more than 80% of the time.
“This particular site has been carefully mapped and we know it is predominantly windy through the afternoon and into the evening, and obviously experiences sunlight during daylight hours. This resource profile ensures almost constant energy production,” he said.
Flinders Shire Council has backed the project…….. http://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/kennedy-energy-park-em5153/
Australian Conservation Foundation debunks argument for Mount Isa radioactive trash dump bid
Australian Conservation Foundation questions Mount Isa radioactive waste dump bid http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-20/environmentalists-question-mount-isa-radioactive-waste-dump-bid/6868404 By Zara Margolis The Australian Conservation Foundation says the creation a radioactive waste management facility in north-west Queensland will not be the economic saviour the region is looking for.
Last week, Mount Isa City Council voted to make a submission to the Federal Government to safely store Australia’s radioactive waste. Mayor Tony McGrady said the creation of a waste facility was timely given recent mining job cuts and could help secure future jobs.
However, nuclear-free campaigner Dave Sweeney said that would not happen and he was concerned pressure to secure the region’s economic future was clouding the council’s judgment.
“Mount Isa will not get the full information because people are already either ideologically leaning towards all things nuclear or so desperate to get a job in the door that they won’t look at the downside,” he said. “So our concern is that ideology, plus desperation, plus misleading or misinformation doesn’t make for a clear and considered basis.
“There’s a lot of misinformation, or missing information, about this process. This is not a big earner. We’re talking six long-term jobs and a small amount of money to be spread over a region or possibly a state in a community benefit package. “This is not a solution to the resource downturn or economic decline in Mount Isa.” The Commonwealth said other locations for the site could be considered, despite nominations having closed in May.
Queensland’s revolutionary solar energy systems – on carparks and other commercial buildings
Are these solar panels the setting of the sun for coal mines? Brisbane Times October 22, Tony Moore Solar energy systems on top of shopping centres, car park shade covers, hospitals, airports and other commercial buildings are the beginning of the end for large scale coal power stations, one alternative energy developer will explain on Friday.
Shakra Energy managing director Sam Khalil will on Friday outline how the solar energy system his company has installed as a “shade cover” over carparking at Buranda is now doubling as a solar energy generator. He says the system cut energy costs for the owner by between 30 to 40 per cent.
Mr Khalil believes companies and big energy users – like hospitals and huge retailers – are beginning to wake up the potential solar energy from their rooftops, completely separate to solar energy from homes.
It generates 147MW and save 122 tonnes of CO2 emissions from the environment each year.
“If we can save them 30 to 40 per cent on electricity bills that are $10 million, $20 million, $30 million a year, why wouldn’t you do it?” Mr Khalil argues.
“We are right at the forefront of where the future of energy production has to be in Australia,” he said.
“Right at the forefront of the job creation for making business more efficient so they can employ more people.”……..
Shakra Energy has placed solar energy panels on top of shade cloth covers that shade cars on top of PA Central on Ipswich Road at Buranda, directly opposite the Princess Alexandra Hospital.
It generates 100 kilowatts of energy, enough to power the shops and business in the Ipswich Road building, plus run the car park operations.
One hundred kilowatts – depending on what is in the house or the business and the size of the house of the business – could power between five and 30 homes or premises……..
Mr Khalil says their Buranda plant was the first commercial solar production facility in Queensland, outside a similar scheme on the rooftop at one building of the University of Queensland.
He said his company has recently been invited to lodge tenders for similar schemes at large commercial properties.
“Let’s just say hospitals, airports, major shopping centres,” he said.
Oxley Federal MP Bernie Ripoll and Greens Senator Larissa Waters will be at the launch on Friday……..
Greens Senator Larissa Waters praised the concept.
“This is just the kind of innovation that our Sunshine State needs to shine as a leader in the clean energy future,” Senator Waters said.
“The Palaszczuk Government needs to hurry up and implement the 50 per cent renewable energy target it promised in the election, instead of pushing ahead with coal exports through the Great Barrier Reef,” she said. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/are-these-solar-panels-the-setting-of-the-sun-for-coal-mines-20151022-gkg8nc.html#ixzz3pcc0G4N0
Mt Isa Council, Queensland, considers inviting in radioactive trash
Mount Isa council considers late bid for north-west Queensland to host radioactive waste dump, ABC News By Zara Margolis The Mount Isa City Council is considering applying to the Federal Government to develop a radioactive waste management facility in the region.
Earlier this year, the Department of Science and Industry invited states and territories to nominate land for a facility to safely store Australia’s radioactive waste.
Nominations officially closed in May but Tony McGrady said he was only made aware of the process on Wednesday and the council still wanted to apply……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-16/mount-isa-considers-bid-for-radioactive-waste-dump/6859612
Adani coal mine approval ‘grossly irresponsible’
Australian Conservation Foundation, October 15, 2015 Federal environment minister Greg Hunt’s approval of what could become one of the world’s largest coal mines sets back global efforts to combat climate change, the Australian Conservation Foundation said today.
“To approve a massive coal mine that would make species extinct, deplete 297 billion litres of precious groundwater and produce 128.4 million tonnes of CO2 a year is grossly irresponsible,” said ACF President Geoff Cousins.
“At a time when the world is desperately seeking cleaner energy options this huge new coal mine will make the effort to combat climate change all the more difficult.”
If it goes ahead the Carmichael mine would be the largest ever dug in Australia. It would take up five times the area of Sydney Harbour. The climate pollution resulting from burning its coal would be more than New Zealand’s entire annual emissions.
In August the Federal Court set aside Minister Hunt’s original approval of Adani’s controversial proposal to dig the massive coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin.
Minister Hunt’s re-approval of the Carmichael coal mine flies in the face of rising public opposition to the proposal and scientific evidence that shows the mine would destroy 10,000 hectares of habitat for endangered species, including the largest known population of the southern black-throated finch.
“Tens of thousands of ACF supporters from all over Australia have written to Greg Hunt, asking him to reject the Carmichael mine once and for all,” Mr Cousins said.
“Just as Woodside lost its social license to build a gas factory at James Price Point in the Kimberley, most Australians do not want Adani to dig a massive coal mine and export the coal across the Great Barrier Reef.
“ACF will scrutinise this approval decision and carefully consider our options.
“We will use all appropriate means to stop this mine,” Mr Cousins said.
ACF and other environment groups ran ads in major newspapers in August urging Minister Hunt not to re-approve Adani’s Carmichael proposal.
Queensland poised – could take off as renewable energy leader
QLD could become renewable energy leader, http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/qlds-future-really-is-the-sunshine-state/2782321/ Bill Hoffman | 22nd Sep 2015 QUEENSLAND can become a leader in developing cleaner electricity, according to a new forum that has just launched a renewable energy transition document to explain how it’s possible.
The approach aims to create new jobs in regional and rural communities across the state and seeks to tap into global investment in renewable energy which rose 17% last year to more than $270 billion. Sustainable Queensland Forum patron, Marcoola’s Professor Ian Lowe, said we should be at the forefront of the shift from fossil fuels because of our abundance of solar and wind resources.
“Queensland can get on board and move away from its present reliance on coal to develop a pathway for a clean energy transition and play a major role in this growth sector,” Prof Lowe said. “We have long been known as the Sunshine State. “It’s time to earn that title.”
Despite one of the highest uptakes for household solar, with about half a million homes using solar energy, Queensland lags behind every state except WA in total renewable generation.
Report lead author Trevor Berrill said renewable energy schemes created jobs through the construction and operation and offered farmers and graziers the chance to supplement their income by hosting solar and wind installations. Members of the Sustainable Queensland Forum received a positive response to the report at a recent meeting with Queensland Energy Minister Mark Bailey and his Director-General.
Key recommendations of the report Queensland Transitioning to a Clean and Efficient Energy System also include the establishment of an area within the State Government to drive Labor’s target of 50% renewable energy by 2030 and no further fossil fuel generation as coal-fired stations reach the end of their productive life.
Improving energy efficiency delivers savings for users and creates jobs and training for more energy auditors. The Australian Solar Council, Queensland Conservation Council, Australian PV Institute, Alternative Technology Association and Environmental Defenders Office endorsed the findings.
Tax-payers likely to be hit with big costs of mines rehabilitation
State governments calculate the required rehabilitation bonds using a standard formula but Dr Erskine said the mining companies work off their own, and often very different numbers.
“The rehabilitation costs held independently by the mining companies are often much larger than the rehabilitation bonds paid to state governments,”
An environmental scientist who works with the mining industry has broken ranks to warn that Australian taxpayers will be left with a bill running into tens of billions of dollars unless government and industry start taking mine rehabilitation seriously.
Key points
- More than 50,000 abandoned mines in Australia
- Scientist says mines must be rehabilitated
- Report says rehabilitation bonds ‘insufficient’
- Concerns over Peabody Energy’s plummeting share price prompts rehabilitation bonds questions
Dr Peter Erskine from the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute said although state governments hold financial securities for mine rehabilitation, they are nowhere near enough.
Across Australia there are more than 50,000 abandoned mines — a legacy of the early mining days when resource companies simply walked away when the profits dried up.
To avoid repeating its past, Dr Erskine said Australia must ensure that operating mines are properly and progressively rehabilitated while they are turning a profit.
What is in the rehabilitation kitty? Continue reading
Sunshine Coast solar farm to start building before Christmas
Sunshine Coast closer to solar farm starting before Christmas, Brisbane Times, August 20, 2015 -Tony Moore The Sunshine Coast will beat a number of south-east Queensland councils to the solar energy punch by beginning to build its own 15-megawatt solar energy farm before Christmas 2015.
It will mean the Sunshine Coast Council will be Australia’s first council to own and use its own solar energy plant.
The Sunshine Coast plans to meet the cost of its own electricity once the plant is at full production, saving the council about $9 million over 30 years, Mayor Mark Jamieson said.
The Sunshine Coast is close to announcing the successful tender for the project………http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/sunshine-coast-closer-to-solar-farm-starting-before-christmas-20150819-gj3539.html
Australian Renewable Energy Agency helps kick off Queensland’s ‘Virtual solar plant’
‘Virtual solar plant’ in home trial in Queensland http://www.theage.com.au/business/energy/sunverge-energy-links-with-ergon-energy-for-qld-home-power-storage-program-20150805-gisdx5 August 6, 2015 Angela Macdonald-Smith Californian electricity storage developer Sunverge Energy has forged an alliance with Ergon Energy for a limited commercial rollout of its power systems in Queensland homes, with at least two similar deals with other Australian partners expected to follow later this year.
The partnership with the Queensland utility, which also involves US-listed solar panel provider SunPower, will tap into keen interest in battery storage among households in Australia, partly thanks to the huge popularity of rooftop solar.
The deal announced on Thursday involves installing SunPower solar panels and Sunverge energy storage systems in 33 homes in Toowoomba, Townsville and Cannonvale in a program that will receive $400,000 of funding by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
The Sunverge systems include back-up power, a six-kilowatt inverter with 11.6 kilowatt-hours of energy and a sophisticated communications and control capability that allows the utility to control and collectively manage them to increase the efficiency of power supply on its grid. Continue reading
Queensland’s Mt Emerald Wind Farm will go ahead despite Abbott government
Tableland wind farm pushes ahead without Federal support DANIEL BATEMAN THE CAIRNS POST JULY 14, 2015 CONSTRUCTION on a wind farm on the Tableland is still likely to go ahead without funding assistance from the Federal Government.
The developers behind the Mt Emerald Wind Farm are confident they will receive environmental approval from the Department of Environment, with a decision expected before the end of September.
It comes as the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has been ordered to focus on new technologies instead of wind farms under a revised mandate drafted by the government.
The $380 million wind farm, to be built at Walkamin, will potentially generate enough electricity to power 75,000 homes. The development is a joint venture between Ratch Australia and local property developer Port Bajool. Ratch owns several wind farms around Australia, including the Windy Hill wind farm near Ravenshoe which has been operating for more than a decade.
Kennedy MP Bob Katter, whose electorate covers Walkamin, said in the right location, wind farms could successfully generate additional incomes for small communities and landholders…..
He said without the CEFC investing in development, Australia would “go backwards”. “If this happens, the only independent development bank in Australia will cease to exist,’’ he said. “No real development will take place. “What the government calls investment is foreign takeovers of Australia assets.
“The only people in Australia who think this is a good thing are this current LNP and the last ALP government.” http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/tableland-wind-farm-pushes-ahead-without-federal-support/story-fnkxmm0j-1227440453735
North Queensland’s Collinsville solar energy project going ahead
Collinsville solar power plant to go ahead thanks to Renewable Energy Target decision says Ratch http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-06/collinsville-solar-power-plant-a-goer/6597400 By Jonathan Hair
The company behind a proposed solar power project in north Queensland says it hopes to start construction next year. Ratch Australia is planning to build a $100 million solar plant in Collinsville. It will create up to 80 jobs in the construction phase and two to three once operational.
Ratch general manager of business management, Anil Nangia, said the recent Federal Government deadlock on the Renewable Energy Target put the project on hold. However, he said the recent agreement on a new target meant the project would go ahead.
“The other good thing about renewable energy is it produces jobs and investment in regional Australia,” he said.”The key aspect of this resolution is it was bipartisan support, with no additional reviews until 2020. “We believe there’s real certainty in this target and it will stay in place and we think it will be there for the long run, if not increased.”
He said it was disheartening when politicians expressed a lack of faith in renewables. It’s terrible when they talk like that, renewables are the way of the future,” he said. “They basically are going to produce the low cost power in the long-term and they produce power with no emissions, no side effects, it’s really sad when they talk … down the potential of renewable energy in Australia.”
Aboriginal landowners reject coal giant Adani
Adani shown the door by traditional owners, SMH July 4, 201Michael West Business columnist The Wangan and Jagalingou people gathered two weeks ago at a convention centre in Carseldine north of Brisbane.
They were there to vote on a proposal to make sure those responsible for their native title claim were truly representative of the Wangan and Jagalingou people. These are the traditional owners of the land in the Galilee Basin, precisely where Indian company Adani aims to build Australia’s biggest coal mine, the controversial $16 billion Carmichael project.
Twice in three years, the Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) had rejected Adani’s advances to sign a land deal for the mine, and twice Adani had dragged them off to the Native Title Tribunal and sought approval for the state to override their opposition to the mine.
It was just after 9am on Saturday, June 20, when two charter buses turned up at the Tavernetta Function Centre in Carseldine. Adani had bussed in 150 people in a sly bid to force consideration of a new memorandum of understanding they claimed to have with W&J, despite the previous ‘no vote’ from W&J. It was an Adani ambush, and it must have cost a fortune: three days of food, accommodation and transport for 150 people.
“We saw the buses turn up and we were wondering what was going on,” says traditional owner and W&J lead spokesman Adrian Burragubba.
“They tried to organise their own meeting after ours in order to get the people to agree to their MoU – a kind of tricked ILUA [Indigenous Land Use Agreement] when they knew they didn’t have one. Right now we’re in the Federal Court precisely because we refused an ILUA and they have tried to override us.”
But Adani’s cunning stunt backfired. They hadn’t counted on their 150 voters changing their minds after impassioned speeches from the likes of Burragubba. W&J tribal elders are deeply concerned about the effect of the mine on their cultural heritage and the risks it poses to water and wildlife.
By the end of the day, Adani’s reps had been asked to leave the meeting. Of the W&J’s 12 “new applicants”, or claim representatives, at least seven were against Adani, despite all the money flying about to skew the vote, and three were in favour. The views of the other two appear in the balance.
Burragubba says Adani has been engaging in tactical skulduggery for years, excluding him from meetings as he represented families which were not in favour of Carmichael.
“They claimed I was disruptive,” he told Fairfax Media.
“But they need all applicants in a meeting to do a deal. So there cannot possibly be a legally binding agreement.
“Adani has been conniving with these other two people [other Indigenous applicants] to try to get an agreement and undermine the Native Title process and our right to free prior informed consent.”
Before the showdown at the Carseldine convention centre, Adani had co-opted two of the W&J applicants, also directors of the trustee for the W&J’s Cato Galilee Trust……….http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/adani-shown-the-door-by-traditional-owners-20150703-gi3y2h.html
1 This month
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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