Wind energy a winner for South Australia
Wind Power costs a lot less than the savings it makes – it’s like a preventative measure; an insurance that you buy against high electricity prices. In the case of South Australia, they did just that and it paid off.
Wind Works. It’s giving South Australia climate security through decarbonising its economy, energy security through reduced imports of expensive volatile fossil fuels. And it works so well that South Australia can now go further and target 50 per cent of the state to run on wind power and put much more solar on rooftops while planning to integrate this with
Baseload Solar Thermal plants installed in locations like Port Augusta.
South Australia’s big win with wind, REneweconomy, By Matthew Wright 21 March 2012 Wind Power in South Australia has been a howling success; it now provides more electricity in the state than coal and in just a decade the wind industry has developed into one of the world’s leaders – and all to the benefit of South Australians. Continue reading
3000 jobs and cheaper electricity for South Australia with wind power
They are reportedly unpopular but a CSIRO report in January found there was stronger community support for wind farms across Australia than suggested by media coverage.
It found rural residents often backed the developments but did not seek media attention or political engagement to express their views.
SA wants to lead with renewable energy, Business Spectator, 22 March 12, South Australia’s Labor government wants to be a leader in renewable energy and wants more wind farms to do it. SA has more than half of Australia’s wind farms and they provided 26 per cent of the state’s electricity last year, up from 18 per cent in 2010, and less than one per cent just five years ago…… Continue reading
South Australia the chosen route for Lucas Heights radioactive wastes to the Northern Territory?
Nuclear waste headed to South Australia – Greens, Herald Sun, AAP March 15, 2012 THE Greens say the South Australian Government has abandoned its tough stand against the transport of nuclear waste through the state. Greens MP Mark Parnell said former Premier Mike Rann won a High Court challenge against Howard government plans to locate a nuclear waste
dump in SA. Mr Rann also opposed the transport of nuclear waste through the state to a proposed dump in the Northern Territory.
Federal parliament yesterday passed a Bill authorising the NT dump and Mr Parnell said the State Government now appeared to accept nuclear waste from the Lucas Heights reactor in Sydney would travel through SA….. “This transport is completely unnecessary,” Mr Parnell said today.
“Even if you accept the need to build a waste-storage facility in the Northern Territory, which the Greens totally reject, the most direct route from Lucas Heights to the NT is nowhere near South Australia.”
Mr Parnell said in 2009 a federal government report found that transporting waste through SA was an option that would avoid the
emotive idea of taking it through the Blue Mountains. But he said if the waste came through SA it would travel through Australia’s foodbowl and tourist areas such as the SA Riverland. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/nuclear-waste-headed-to-south-australia-greens/story-e6frf7jx-1226300436521
South Australia’s wind energy experience debunks the myths of the anti wind lobby
Australia can draw on real-life experience in South Australia. And it serves to debunk a few myths: wind does not need like-for-like back-up, or anything near it. It does achieve abatement, it does displace fossil fuel generation, and it is not anywhere near as expensive as some claim.
wind accounts for more than 20 per cent of SA’s electricity consumption, making it the second largest in percentage terms in the world after Denmark, and the highest on a per capita basis.
State’s wind farms help debunk a few myths BY: GILES PARKINSON, The Australian March 16, 2012 IS wind energy as useless as its critics say it is? Is it really so expensive and ineffective that its emissions abatement is achieved at 10 times
the cost of gas-fired generation?
That was the conclusion of a British study sponsored by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, chaired by former Conservative chancellor and noted climate sceptic Nigel Lawson. Wind power upsets a few people, not least the climate sceptics who simply can’t comprehend its utility. Continue reading
Ignorance is bliss? South Australian government doesn’t know about nuke waste transport
SA left in the dark on nuclear waste, Adelaide Now, March 15, 2012 THE Federal Government is yet to reveal if nuclear waste from hospitals and laboratories will be trucked through South Australia. Greens MP Mark Parnell yesterday raised concerns in State Parliament that transporting nuclear waste to a proposed NT dump posed risks to SA farms.
But Environment Minister Paul Caica said later: “Matters of a proposed transport route are yet to be raised with the State Government.” http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/ipad/sa-left-in-the-dark-on-nuclear-waste/story-fn6bqphm-1226299807952
South Australian government does an about turn on nuclear waste transport
SA Govt selling out SA over nuke waste, 15 March 12, The SA Government appears to have abandoned its opposition to the transfer of radioactive waste from interstate through South Australia, says Greens Parliamentary Leader Mark Parnell.
In response to a question from the Greens in the SA Upper House about the implications for SA in the passing of a bill yesterday in the Federal Parliament authorising a nuclear waste facility in the NT, Minister Gail Gago said: “It is anticipated that the commonwealth would enter into discussions and keep the state fully informed of any future transport of significant quantities of radioactive waste through South Australia”
This response is in stark contrast to the vehement opposition by former Premier Mike Rann to the transport and storage of nuclear wastes into South Australia that led to a successful High Court challenge in 2003. Following the High Court victory, then Premier Rann said “Eighty per cent of South Australians were opposed to the radioactive waste dump and particularly opposed to radioactive waste from the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney being brought across our borders and along our roads.” Continue reading
In the interests of their fossil fuel backers, Liberal Party attacks wind energy
Is Rowan looking after the interests of his constituents, or of the fossil fuel industry? He is correct, as I understand it, in pointing out that there are times when the generated wind power loads the SA grid to its limit, and that there will be a need for more interconnection between SA and the eastern states if wind power is to expand much further. However, the Liberal Party’s systematic attacks on sustainable energy and support for the fossil fuel industry in its campaign to stop the rise in sustainable energy shows a complete abandonment of ethical standards…
More Coalition attacks on wind power and renewables, Independent Australia, 08 Mar 2012 Liberal MP Rowan Ramsay is yet another Coalition MP keen to promote fossil fuels over renewables — especially wind. Environmentalist Dave Clarke responds to a speech Ramsay made recently attacking wind power projects in South Australia. Rowan Ramsey gave a speech in the Australian Parliament in mid-February 2012, which was biased against wind power. In this speech he made a number of claims and inferences that were questionable at best and false at worst. Continue reading
Grandiose tower for grandiose BHP and its biggest uranium mine in the world
discussions between major developers and BHP about a new $250m office tower in Currie Street, for which the company would have naming rights….
BHP plans office tower linked to Olympic Dam expansion, BY:MICHAEL OWEN:The Australian March 09, 2012 BHP Billiton is looking at teaming with a major developer to build a new office tower in Adelaide ahead of the planned expansion of its Olympic Dam mine in the far north of South Australia.
It is understood BHP is in talks with several developers and construction companies about a new office tower that could be worth up to $250 million.
The high-rise development, potentially slated for Currie Street, in Adelaide’s CBD, would provide the company with a significant visible presence as it launches a mammoth project with an estimated mine life of more than 100 years. Continue reading
Doubts over whether or not BHP’s new big Olympic Dam uranium mine will go ahead
Reuters report on mining conference in Canada Mar 6, 2012 By Euan Rocha TORONTO, March 6 – The Anglo-Australia mining giant, which already operates an underground mine at the site, has yet to sign off on the budget for
the open pit…. but BHP may opt to delay taking on the heavy financial burden that could easily be in the $10 billion to $20 billion range…..
…. PDAC, the mining industry’s largest annual gathering. The convention, organized by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, opened in Toronto on Sunday.
Even though Olympic Dam, located 550 km (345 miles) north of Adelaide, is one of BHP’s biggest growth prospects, the cost of
digging the massive pit may prove prohibitive.
Last month the company reported a profit decline, and it struck a cautious tone on its expectations for growth in China, one of its
biggest markets. That has led some to speculate that the miner may delay spending on capital-intensive projects such as Olympic Dam and the Jansen potash project in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.
In late 2011, BHP finalized state approvals to begin construction work on the open-pit phase of the Olympic Dam project, but the agreement would lapse around December if BHP delays its decision on proceeding.
“We want to see a board decision before the end of the year about substantial works beginning. If not, the approvals run out and BHP know this,” said Tom Koutsantonis, minister for mineral resources and energy for the state of South Australia.” I’m not in the business, and no government should be in the business, of allowing anyone to have massive tenements that they don’t develop …”-
A spokesman for BHP declined to comment on the remarks.
MASSIVE SCALE The sheer scale of the open-pit project is formidable. BHP will have to shovel rock for five to seven years before it reaches the Olympic Dam ore body, discovered in the mid-1970s…..
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/06/canada-mining-pdac-olympicdam-idUSL2E8E60E220120306
South Australia happy to flog off uranium – but says nuclear power’s no good
Uranium industry in major turnaround, Adelaide Now by: TIM DORNIN AAP February 29, 2012 AUSTRALIA has no need for nuclear power and no licence from society to develop it, South Australian Mineral Resources Minister Tom Koutsantonis says.
The minister says he fully supports uranium mining in SA but not nuclear power. “The truth is, you need a social licence to operate, and there is not a social licence for nuclear power,” Mr Koutsantonis told a uranium
conference.
“The Australian public don’t want it. “I don’t think it’s economic, I don’t think it’s viable, and I don’t think it’s politically saleable.”
Adelaide uranium conference disrupted by anti nuclear protestors
Protesters disrupt uranium conference THE AUSTRALIAN AAP February 28, 2012 ANTI-NUCLEAR protesters have disrupted a uranium conference in Adelaide, with the small group calling for a halt to uranium mining.
A lone protester wearing white protective overalls and a mask stood at the back of the Paydirt conference during opening speeches today and called for SA’s uranium to be left in the ground. He said South Australians did not want the waste generated by uranium mining. Several others joined him chanting similar slogans before being
removed as SA Mineral Resources Minister Tom Koutsantonis completed his address.
Mr Koutsantonis said the State Government strongly supported the development of the state’s uranium resources, including the world’s largest deposit at Olympic Dam. But he also maintained the Government’s decision to ban all
exploration, including the search for uranium, in the environmentally sensitive Arkaroola Sanctuary in the Flinders Rangers was the right one….
… If we had not banned mining in Arkaroola, I think this room would have been full of young protesters,” Mr Koutsantonis said. “I think we would have galvanised a whole generation against uranium mining.”
Historic day as Arkaroola finally gets permanent protection
The Upper House of State Parliament has just passed a Bill to permanently protect from mining the iconic mountains of Arkaroola in the State’s far North. The legal protection is the culmination of a long-running community and Greens campaign to ensure this magnificent part of our State is no longer threatened by damaging mining activity.
“This is a wonderful, historic day,” said Greens Parliamentary leader Mark Parnell. “It’s taken a long time, but finally a law has been passed that ensures the permanent protection of the world famous mountains of Arkaroola.
“If a future Government wants to let the miners back in they will have to over-turn this Act of Parliament. I am totally confident that this will never happen. “It is wonderful that all sides of politics have finally accepted what the Greens have been arguing all along: that some places are simply too precious to mine,” he said.
In passing the Bill, the Greens moved 2 successful amendments to ensure appropriate consultation with the traditional owners from the Adnyamathanha people over the management of the land. “As this is such an important piece of legislation, it is vital we get it right and ensure that all traditional owners have a say in how Arkaroola will be managed,” said Mr Parnell.
“The Greens have been very proud to stand alongside the Sprigg Family, Adnyamathanha Elders and the many passionate environmental and heritage campaigners from across the state and across the world who have fought to protect this precious place.“They can all be very proud of what they have achieved,” he said.
Olympic Dam uranium mine at risk from earthquakes
from our Seismology Watcher, 28 feb 12, Australian Yet another timely warning for Quarry Australia following seismologist, Edward Cranswick’s peer-reviewed paper on the 35-km-long, steeply dipping Mashers Fault which passes through the middle of the Olympic Dam ore body. The fault length implies an earthquake of maximum about 7.
An observation by Cranswick is that censoring of Australian lists of earthquakes and their corresponding source parameters, (i.e., time, location, depth, magnitude) has taken place.
Cranswick, who investigated earthquakes for the US Geological Survey for 22 years, suggests that the connection between mining and sesmicity (earthquakes) is obscured in Australia particularly the seismic hazard of the OD project in SA. Seemingly, BHP’s proposed expansion and potential radioactive fall-out at the Olympic Dam project in the event of a “natural” catastrophe reveals scant regard for public health and safety. However, there is nothing like an outraged Momma Nature (whose **se is being chewed by the mining industry) to make an ecocidal event, a grim reality.
Cranswick also makes reference to the Barrick/Newmont super pit and its connection to the unprecedented 5.2 magnitude earthquake that occurred in the stable continental region of Kalgoorlie/Boulder in April 2010. And what a pitiful mess that made of the historic buildings in the main street of Boulder which is about a kilometre from the super pit.
En garde my fellow Australians, asleep at the wheel.
South Australian government framed laws for BHP Billiton’s uranium mining, not for the people
Commercial vested interests of uranium mining companies are writing the script for Australia’s uranium sales deals under both Liberal and now ALP federal governments…….
South Australia should come to its senses and recognise our society’s responsibilities to get out of the uranium trade and not be made complicit in nuclear risks for BHP Billiton’s vested interests.
Our uranium fuelled Fukushima, David Noonan, The Guardian, 22 Feb 12 “……..How did the SA government perform in exercising their responsibilities after Fukushima? Indigenous people bear a disproportionate burden of impacts from uranium mining and this will certainly continue to be the case in SA
under the Roxby Indenture deal “negotiated” by the state with BHP Billiton that is being pushed through Parliament with bi-partisan support.
BHP Billiton is not bound by the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 in the “Stuart Shelf Area” of some 1.5 percent of the area of SA around the Olympic Dam mine.
Aboriginal heritage obligations that apply to every other miner or developer do not apply to the Big Australian for the 70-year extended period of the Roxby Indenture, and the state further agreed that this can only be changed in future with the agreement of the company. Continue reading
South Australia, the Uranium State, moves further away from clean energy
Labor pulls plug on energy role, by:Belinda Willis , The Advertiser , February 21, 2012 THE State Government has ended Renewable Energy Commissioner Tim O’Loughlin’s position more than a year before his contract was due to expire. Mr O’Loughlin was appointed in mid-2009 with some fanfare by then Premier Mike Rann. His contract was meant to run until 2013.
A spokesman for Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said he would not be replaced. Yesterday’s Budget and Finance select committee heard Mr O’Loughlin’s job ends about 18 months short of his contract by “mutual agreement”, and that there had been a payout……
The move follows a budget decision late last year to scrap the $11.7 million remaining in the $20 million Renewable Energy Fund. This fund was overseen by RenewablesSA, and industry said there were now no state funding support avenues available for renewable energy.
The South Australian branch of the Australian Solar Energy Society and the Australian Geothermal Energy Association have raised concerns that the State Government had lost interest in renewable energy.
“It makes a complete mockery of the fact that in the last week of Rann being premier, he released a new renewable statement for South Australia,” said Mr Marshall. “It’s clear the new Premier has no interest in this sector whatsoever.” http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/labor-pulls-plug-on-energy-role/story-e6frede3-1226276364284
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