Australia’s campaign for community owned renewable energy- 60 communities seeking funding
A Push For Community Owned Renewables In Australia http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3793 14 June 13, More than 60 communities throughout Australia want to develop community owned wind and solar farms; but few have received funding to assist in the early stages.
Fund Community Energy is an initiative of the Coalition for Community Energy calling on the Federal government to establish a $50 million grant program to support the development stage of these projects. The investment could leverage over half a billion dollars in investment in community renewable energy. The group has organised meetings with Liberal and Labor politicians in June and wants to ensure it can show significant community support, so has implemented a petition that aims to collect at least 5,000 signatures.
“Community-owned renewable energy projects cut carbon pollution and bring new life to regional and rural Australia. Most importantly, they pave the path for an Australia powered by renewable energy that’s owned by everyday people, not big energy companies with vested interests in fossil fuels,” states the Fund Community Energy web site. Coalition for Community Energy refers to the 3Ds of community energy to highlight its benefits: decarbonising energy supply, decentralizing and localising energy generation and democratising energy governance.
At this point in time, only two community owned renewable energy projects are up and running in Australia; one of them being Hepburn Community Wind Park, winner of the 2012 World Wind Energy Award.
There has been some good news in recent days – the NSW government recently announced $411,000 in grants for nine new community renewable projects; but the concern is for the dozens of other projects languishing that may fade into obscurity.
The Fund Community Energy campaign is being led by the Community Power Agency and Yes 2 Renewables with support from dozens of other groups including 100% Renewable and the Alternative Energy Association.
Two new renewable energy programs for remote locarions
Regional boost for clean energy http://ecogeneration.com.au/news/regional_boost_for_renewable_energy/081907/, 13 June 2013 The Federal Government has announced a new program that will aim to generate 150 MW of electricity from renewable energy sources in regional and remote locations in Australia.
The $400 million program, known as the Regional Australia Renewables (RAR) initiative, will be supported via the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. The program will construct at least two large-scale renewable energy plants of 10 MW or greater in Australian regional and remote locations within the next five years.
The initiative is split into two programs – the Industry RAR program and the Community RAR program. The Industry RAR program will support the development of renewable energy solutions, including hybrid and integrated systems in off-grid and fringe-of-grid locations across Australia. The Community RAR program will work directly with electricity distributors to demonstrate technologies that can feed more renewable energy into community electricity grids, such as energy storage systems.
Federal Resources and Energy Minister Gary Gray said in the Pilbara – where the cost of wind energy can be half that of diesel – energy demand is growing faster than in any other part of Australia.
“It’s no secret that in Western Australia we have a lot of remote areas and meeting our growing energy demand is a big issue,” Mr Gray said. “Where there is no grid-connected electricity, many communities and industries truck-in fuels to generate energy.”
A new community windfarm- breakthrough in Victoria
“We wanted to spread financial benefits beyond the landowners, and we’ve done that through share ownership scheme,”
Vic wind farm breakthrough, with pioneering share structure, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson 12 June 2013 A small 5-turbine wind farm project with an innovative share ownership model has become the first wind energy project in the state of Victoria to receive council approval in recent years.
The application for the Coonooer Bridge wind farm – with 5 turbines of up to 150m tall to be built near the locality of 
the same name north-west of Bendigo – was approved by the Buloke Shire Council on Wednesday night.
It is a notable project for several reasons. It is the first wind farm proposal to gain approval from a council in the state since former Premier Ted Baillieu introduced restrictive planning policies in 2011. And the project –located between the towns of Charlton and St Arnaud, about 90 km northwest of Bendigo – is also the first in Australia to find a way to combine corporate and community ownership, and the first renewable energy project in the country with an ownership structure that includes the local farming community in this way.
In all, 30 owners of property sited within 3kms of the planned wind farm have been offered shares, including one family with turbines on their land. All have taken up the offer, despite the concerns about wind energy of some. Windlab, a spin-off from the CSIRO which has developed an expertise in identifying strong wind resource areas, retains the majority stake. Continue reading
Leichhardt City Council (Sydney) commits to 100% renewable energy by 2025
NSW council commits to 100% renewable energy by 2025 REneweconomy By Sophie Vorrath 13 June 2013 The council of the inner-west Sydney city of Leichhardt has committed to becoming 100 per cent renewable by 2025, building on its recent draft plan to tackle climate change by reducing emissions in local government facilities.
Leichhardt, which last year became the second council in NSW to achieve carbon neutrality, made the commitment last week – a goal it plans to achieve through direct investment in renewable energy, and without the need to purchase offsets.
Leichhardt is also one of eight Sydney councils – including Marrickville, Ashfield, Canterbury, Kogarah, Rockdale, Bankstown and Canada Bay – working with the Institute for Sustainable Futures to develop a renewable energy master plan for the region.
The master plan aims to identify the best ways to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources, including solar PV, solar thermal, waste-to-energy, mini hydro, wind power and co/trigeneration. There is also the potential for alignment with the City of Sydney’s renewable energy plan.
As part of its own plan, Leichhardt aims to install a large amount of solar across council facilities, including the Town Hall and Balmain Library. A cogeneration plant is being constructed at Leichhardt Park Aquatic Centre – the Council’s largest consumer of electricity. The plan also proposes retrofitting existing energy sources in facilities to be environmentally friendly.
Development of the city’s renewable energy plan is largely credited to the Greens councillors, who are said to have worked hard to gain the support of their Labor, Independent and Liberal counterparts. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/city-of-leichhardt-commits-to-100-renewables-by-2025#sthash.R3CtUtya.dpuf
South Australian wave energy project is progressing
Port MacDonnell wave energy project ‘on track’ ABD News 12 June 13, Wave energy company Oceanlinx says the construction site of its $7 million Port MacDonnell development is being prepared this week. A 20-square metre offshore concrete unit is expected to be connected
to the power grid by the end of the year and will power 1,000 homes in Port MacDonnell. CEO Ali Baghaei says equipment has started arriving at the site and construction workers have begun setting up.
He says people will soon see the development taking shape….. “We are very much keen to ensure it stays on track and thankfully it has beenon track and I’m very pleased with the progress we have made,” he said. “I must say we have received quite a lot of support from the local communities and I want to thank them all for it.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-12/wave-energy-firms-port-macdonnell-project-on-track/4748830
Can’t have cheap clean wind energy causing fewer people to play golf, can we now?
King Island’s golf, turbine debate KING Island’s TasWind project is becoming a debate about golfing tourism versus wind energy, Weekly Times Now, Shannon Twomey | June 11, 2013 But the Cape Wickham project, one of the golf courses proposed for the island, is sick of being associated with the anti-wind farm movement.
The TasWind project is a 200-megawatt wind farm proposed for King Island by the state-owned company Hydro Tasmania, with voting on the project’s feasibility study currently taking place. There are two new, world-class golf course projects occurring on the island – Ocean Dunes and the Cape Wickham project.
Oceans Dunes director Graeme Grant stated his concerns over the TasWind project in April and Cape Wickham were labelled as having the same view point. Darius Oliver, a consultant for the Cape Wickham golf project has said that the company are frustrated by the fact that somehow the Cape Wickham project is associated with the anti-wind farm movement……
Mr Oliver’s frustration comes as the results from an independent study conducted by CH2M HILL, comparing growth forecasts for King Island both with and without the wind farm, were released.
The study factored in likely tourist numbers with the development of the two new golf courses and found significant growth would occur under both scenarios. However that growth was likely to be $36 million less with the wind farm in the period until 2044.
Friends of the Earth and Yes 2 Renewables spokesperson Leigh Ewbank said it was important to set the record straight, that only one of the golf courses is opposed to the TasWind project. http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2013/06/11/573268_latest-news.html
Sydney on the road to 100% renewable energy
A Renewables Powered Sydney Achievable http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3789 13 June 13, 100% of central Sydney’s power, heating and cooling requirements could be supplied by renewable sources according to a draft master plan prepared by the City of Sydney. The blueprint details how the city’s energy needs could be met by 30% renewable electricity sources and the remainder from gases derived from waste.
“This plan provides an invaluable road map detailing where all the renewable resources exist, how much it costs to harness them and how we can use them to help deliver a 100 per cent clean renewable energy system for Sydney,” said Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
The City’s research identified ample waste resources within a 250 km radius of Sydney CBD to produce enough gas to meet the targets set out in the Master Plan. Clean Energy Council Chief Executive David Green applauded the City’s initiative and progress to date.
“The City of Sydney has been a pioneer in championing the increased use of cleaner forms of energy such as solar, wind, bioenergy and trigeneration – a very efficient technology that produces power, heating and cooling from the one power source.”
“Local councils are the best equipped of all levels of government to deliver services that directly reflect the wants and needs of the population. Councils such as the City of Sydney are helping harness the enthusiasm of their residents to do things differently,” he said.
Also announced yesterday was an update of an energy efficiency drive by theCity of Sydney; which has seen savings of as much as 50 per cent from power and water efficiency retrofits in City buildings. “These figures show what a major difference can be made by retrofitting buildings. As cities are the greatest emitters of greenhouse gas, we need to make our buildings more energy efficient,” the Lord Mayor said.
The City has set a target to reduce its own energy and water consumption overall by 20 per cent compared to 2006 levels.
Examining rural communities’ attitudes to wind farms, in New South Wales
Wind co-op to study community attitudes http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-11/wind-co-op-to-study-community-attitudes/4745110 Melinda Hayter Jun 11, 2013 The Central New South Wales Renewable Energy Cooperative which wants to buy a turbine at the proposed Flyer’s Creek wind farm near Blayney, says it has a back-up plan if the development is not approved.
The windfarm application was lodged in 2008 and Chairman Pat Bradbery says the group will not be disbanded if the windfarm does not get the go-ahead. “The first is to look at another windfarm that has been approved and preliminary talks have happened about that,” he said.
“But we will then at the same time look at our other goals, which is that we really want to do what we can to increase the amount of renewable energy being used in the central regions of New South Wales.”
He says solar farms and an initiative where businesses can rent solar panels to reduce their energy costs could be considered. “Orange, Bathurst, the Central Tablelands in particular gets a quite a lot of sunlight and so solar energy is very do-able.
“Also this part of the country is high wind territory so it certainly has the natural resources that are required to produce renewable energy.”The co-op has received a $60,000 state government grant to be spent on a study into community attitudes on wind farms, and a series of seminars.
Mr Bradbery says the grant will pay for a study on community attitudes to windfarms being done by the University of Technology Sydney.”They’ve actually almost finished that.
“We’re just waiting on the final report and to run 10 seminars through the region, in which we will present the results of the research and also get feedback about what they think of wind energy.” Seminars will be held in Orange, Bathurst, Lithgow, Cowra, Parkes, Forbes and Mudgee over the next two months.
Liberal Coalition in the grip of front groups opposing wind energy
Windfarm industry fears consequences of Coalition turbine noise policy, Guardian UK Lenore Taylor, political editor, 12 June 13, Firms say they face crippling costs if forced to monitor in ‘real-time’ noise some blame for health problems The Coalition will impose new noise monitoring rules on windfarms that the multibillion dollar industry says will inflict crippling costs, provide no useful information and represent another victory for an anti-noise campaign by concerned citizens backed in part by the climate sceptic lobby.
The yet-to-be-released resources policy is set to require all windfarms to provide “real-time” noise monitoring, with the findings immediately publicly available, so nearby residents concerned about the alleged health impact of windfarms can compare the results with strict state government noise controls. The Coalition resources spokesman, Ian Macfarlane, will also try to introduce the measures before the election with a private members bill.
People living close to windfarms have reported symptoms including headaches, sleeplessness and nausea. Several residents experiencing the symptoms have given evidence at inquiries, but a recent study by Prof Simon Chapman of Sydney University found incidence of the sickness was far more prevalent in communities where anti-windfarm lobbyists had been active and suggested it might be a psychological phenomenon caused by the belief that turbines make people sick. “As anti-windfarm interest groups began to stress health problems in their advocacy, and to target new windfarm developments, complaints grew,” said Chapman. Continue reading
Regional Australia’s Renewables (IRAR) programs- will halve remote area’s electricity costs
In fact, the cost of diesel generation – sometimes more than $400/MWh – is probably closer to four times the cost of wind energy than two times, and is well above the cost of solar PV. Many developers of solar plants – be it solar PV or new technologies such as solar thermal or graphite blocks – are targeting remote regions because of the high costs of diesel,
ARENA targets 150MW in remote renewables program http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/arena-
targets-150mw-in-remote-renewables-program-38423 By Giles Parkinson 7 June 2013
Financial benefits of solar power leading South Australians to make the switch
Households in South Australia are increasingly turning to solar power to alleviate or even obliterate energy bill woes. National solar energy provider Energy Matters estimates a good quality solar power system installed in Adelaide can return a financial benefit of between $1,502 – $1,711 annually.
South Australian Electricity Prices Biting Hard http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3784, 10 June 13 The last 6 months of 2012 saw a substantial increase in the number of SA households turning to electricity instalment plans and joining electricity retailer hardship programs says the Essential Services Commission of South Australia. Continue reading
51% renewable energy in Australia by 2050 – coal power on the way out
Australia moves from coal to renewables 51pct by 2050 http://www.coalguru.com/australia/australia_moves_from_coal_to_renewables_51pct_by_2050/10298 Australia, one of the most coal dependent energy economies in the world, is on track to produce 51% of all its energy by the year 2050. This would make the Land Down Under one of the greenest economies of all when it comes to energy production. Continue reading
Cairns Evolve Energy has evolved a renewable energy + jobs plan for Far North Queensland
The Tropical North Queensland Renewable Energy Industry Development Plan developed strategies to see 2500 people employed in the industry by 2020.
Cairns energy costs could be lowered the natural way, Cairns, Caitlin Guilfoyle , June 8, 2013 SUGAR cane, wind and sunshine – it sounds more like a weekend away but experts reckons these natural resources could pull the Far North out of an electricity crisis…… experts say theFar North should take advantage of the region’s natural surrounds to harness renewable energy and ultimately cut back on spending.
Cairns’ Evolve Energy prepared the Tropical North Queensland Renewable Energy Industry Development Plan for the State Government last year, which detailed strategies to ramp up renewable energy use in the region. Continue reading
Large solar system installed at Geraldton, Western Australia
Western Australian Company Installs 100kW Solar Power System http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3780, 7 June 13, Diab Engineering in Geraldton, Western Australia, has gone solar in a big way.
Designed, installed and commissioned by Perth and Brisbane based Infinite Energy, the 99.8kW rooftop system consists of 416 solar panels; plus 6 SMA Sunny Tripower inverters supplied by Energy Matters’ sister company,Apollo Energy.
The array is mounted using an Australian designed and manufactured SunLockmounting system; also provided via Apollo Energy.
Diab Engineering’s installation incorporates a special system that monitors electricity consumption on the site and solar production in real time. Continue reading
Australia in some ways a leader in renewable energy – but, after September – a renewable energy backwater?
Clean Energy Australia Report http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3778 6 June 13 Australia is on track to reach its 2020 Renewable Energy Target; with renewables supplying a record 13.14 per cent of Australia’s electricity in 2012.
According to the Clean Energy Council’s 2012 Clean Energy Australia Report, enough electricity from renewable sources was generated last year to supply the needs of more than 4 million Australian homes.
Just in terms of wind power alone, the nation’s 62 wind farms supplied electricity equivalent to the consumption of more than one million homes. Continue reading
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