Tony Abbott now issuing rules to try to gut Australian Renewable Energy Agency
Second climate agency gets new rules http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/second-climate-agency-gets-new-rules/story-fni0xqi4-1227441744101 A SECOND climate-related agency has has been issued new instructions by the Abbott government.
THE Australian Renewable Energy Agency has been given a five-point priority list – including more large-scale solar projects and thermal energy – to replace a broader scope of projects that it supports.
The change comes in the wake of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation being directed to stop funding wind farms and rooftop solar projects.
Poorer Western Australians will lose out from Abbott’s solar turnoff – Senator Scott Ludlam
WA Greens senator says Abbott solar turn-off will hit battlers hardest, WA Today July 13, 2015 Ray Sparvell Reporter WA battlers will be hardest hit by the Abbott government’s decision to wind back investment into home solar, according to Greens Senator Scott Ludlam.
He said the state’s solar-driven homes were now producing as much electricity as two conventional coal-fueled power stations.
And he believes it is too soon for the Abbott Government to pull the plug on investments into the solar industry. “Retirees, people on lower incomes and people in outer metro and rural areas of the state will be hardest hit by this.
The federal government has recently directed the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to exclude household and small scale solar from further investment funding. Senator Ludlam said the government still needed to support the solar industry.
Some 180,000 WA households have installed rooftop solars and Senator Ludlam said they were now generating the equivalent of two typical coal fire power stations. “Solar powered WA homes have increased 19 per cent in just one year – overwhelmingly in outer suburbs and households with lower incomes,” he said.
WA now has four postcodes in Australia’s top 20 solar suburbs including Mandurah at number two, North east Wanneroo at eight, Canning Vale/Willeton at 12 and Cockburn at 19.
Home owners benefit from trading in small scale technology certificates at the time of installation and feed-in tariffs (selling power back into the grid). “Householders are streaking ahead of the state and federal government as they use rooftop solar to dramatically reduce their power bills, but Tony Abbott’s crusade against renewable energy is set to have a devastating effect. 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
Government’s attack on Clean Energy Finance Corporation threatens commercial solar projects in ACT
Federal directive on solar threatens commercial rooftop projects in the ACT, says Simon Corbell July 13, 2015 Kirsten Lawson Chief Assembly reporter for The Canberra Times. The Abbott government’s directive against investment in small and medium-scale solar threatens commercial rooftop projects in Canberra, ACT Environment Minister Simon Corbell said on Monday.
Mr Corbell attacked Prime Minister Tony Abbott as “public enemy No 1” on renewable energy.
“He’s putting jobs at risk, he’s putting investment at risk and he’s putting the industry at risk, an industry that will need to grow considerably over the next decade if Australia is to meet its international greenhouse gas reduction commitments,” Mr Corbell said.
He was responding to news of a draft directive from the Abbott government to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation not to invest in small and medium-scale solar projects. The corporation was also ordered not to invest in new wind projects.
He was responding to news of a draft directive from the Abbott government to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation not to invest in small and medium-scale solar projects. The corporation was also ordered not to invest in new wind projects.
Mr Corbell said the ACT’s large-scale projects were not threatened by the decision, with the ACT government’s funding providing the certainty that companies and financiers needed.
Queensland, South Australia and Victoria were already looking at the ACT’s model, he said. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/federal-directive-on-solar-threatens-commercial-rooftop-projects-in-the-act-says-simon-corbell-20150713-gib2e8.html#ixzz3ful17Caa
Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey, Matthias Cormann placing bizarre restrictions on renewable energy development
By potentially restricting the CEFC’s mandate to “big solar” – particularly parabolic troughs and molten salt storage – and as yet undeveloped technologies such as wave and tidal energy, as suggested by environment minister Greg Hunt, the government is not just confusing the CEFC’s role with that of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, but also making its task of achieving double the government bond rate return impossible.
It is asking it to take on the riskiest technologies and put all its eggs in just a few baskets.
The Coalition’s push against renewables is bizarre, contradictory, risky nonsense, Guardian Giles Parkinson, 13 July 15 With its directive to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the Abbott government is also telling the banks to avoid financing renewables here Not content with putting the renewable energy industry on hold through an interminable review, and then cutting the large scale component by more than one third, and then declaring wind energy to be offensive,ugly and unwelcome, the Coalition government has now decided to try to nobble the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).
Clean energy bank ‘seeks legal advice’ after Coalition pulls plug on wind and solar projects
Not for the first time, but the attempts by treasurer Joe Hockey and finance minister Matthias Cormann to impose bizarre, contradictory and mystifying restrictions on the $10bn institution are designed to prolong the drought in large scale renewable energy investment and extend it to small scale renewables as well.
Much of the uproar has focused on the apparent targeting of wind technology and household solar – the two most successful renewable energy sectors in Australia to date. Continue reading
Tony Abbott sabotages thousands of Australian jobs by ending wind and solar investment
Renewable energy investment: Government ‘sabotages’ thousands of jobs as it ends wind, solar power investment, Australian Solar Council warns, ABC News By Katri Uibu 13 July 15 Thousands of Australians could lose their jobs because of the Federal Government’s latest “ideology-driven” decision not to invest in wind and small solar power projects, the head of the Australian Solar Council (ASC) says.
The Federal Government has ordered the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to stop financing wind and household solar energy and instead invest in “new and emerging technologies”.
But ASC chief executive John Grimes said small business owners would be most affected by the change, saying the “tragic” decision would compromise thousands of jobs.
“There are about 18,000 people in Australia directly employed in the solar industry,” he said.
“These are the jobs of rural and regional Australia and these are the jobs that we want to create. So, the Government is sabotaging the whole industry because of its ideology that we should burn more coal and we need to shut down the renewable sector.”
Mr Grimes said the Government was “completely out of touch with the people of Australia” on the issue and vowed to “campaign hard” for policy change.
Small-scale solar energy installers labelled the Government’s policy a “stupid” decision that was causing them to “move out of the solar industry”.
Installing solar panels has been Richard de Bruin’s livelihood for five years.
Because of the Government’s decision, Mr de Bruin — the owner of R&R Solar Installations — is facing an even “bigger drop” in his revenue. It is a predicament that has forced him to explore alternative business ideas and axe the job of his own son.
“The uncertainty that we’ve had for the last six to 12 months has just really hurt the business to the effect that now we’re moving to a new site, trying to find some more work,” he said……….
Policy change ‘stupidest thing’ Government could have done
Craig Balmanno, owner of Free Solar & Solar Farmers, said while his business was not exposed to solar energy funding cuts, the decision was destructive for the industry.
“Up till now the CEFC hasn’t provided any funding to our business,” he said.
“CEFC has funded larger organisations and now, before the CEFC has a chance to fund the smaller ones, the Government’s going to cut them off.
“It is a bad cut for the renewable energy industry as a whole, but for one particular company, in our circumstances, it’s not going to affect us in a huge way.”
He found the Government’s policy to stop investing in a system “that is making money” incomprehensible and named it “the stupidest thing they could have ever done”.
“They are worried about renewables removing revenue from the fossil fuel industry and tax receipts from the fossil fuel industry,” he said.
“As far as a finance corporation, it’s [the CEFC] an organisation that’s actually making money for them.
“Why would they want to cut back on how it’s investing and try and limit its investments only to emerging technologies?” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-13/government-sabotages-thousands-of-solar-energy-sector-jobs/6615778
Tony Abbott now attacking rooftop solar power industry
“By knocking off wind and solar, the only thing that you leave there is the high-risk stuff,” he said. “They’re trying to make it as difficult as possible for the CEFC.”
Abbott government extends renewable energy investment ban to solar power, Guardian, Shalailah Medhora 12 July 15 Clean Energy Finance Corporation banned from investing in small-scale solar projects in move industry claims is ‘revenge politics’ that will strangle the sector A directive banning the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) from investing in existing wind technology will also apply to small-scale solar projects, a move that will effectively throttle the industry, the Australian Solar Council said.
The federal government on Sunday confirmed that the $10bn CEFC will no longer invest in wind power, instead focussing on “emerging technologies”.
“It is our policy to abolish the Clean Energy Finance Corporation because we think that if the projects stack up economically, there’s no reason why they can’t be supported in the usual way,” Abbott told reporters in Darwin. “But while the CEFC exists, what we believe it should be doing is investing in new and emerging technologies – certainly not existing windfarms…..
it has emerged the government’s investment directive also applies to small-scale solar technology like rooftop panels that generate up to 100 kilowatts of power. Continue reading
Australia’s Prime Minister revs up his attack on the wind farm industry
Abbott escalates war on wind, The Age, 11 July 115 Adam Gartrell EXCLUSIVE: Tony Abbott has been warned he is putting international investment at risk after ordering the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation not to finance new wind power projects. Tony Abbott has dramatically escalated his war on wind power, creating a new cabinet split and provoking a warning he is putting international investment at risk.
Fairfax Media can reveal the government has ordered the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation not to make any new investments in wind power projects. Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann have issued the so-called green bank with a directive to change its investment mandate, prohibiting new wind funding. It’s understood the directive was issued without the approval or knowledge of Environment Minister Greg Hunt, angering the minister. The decision is another blow for the multibillion-dollar wind industry, which has just started to recover from the uncertainty created by the government’s Renewable Energy Target review. Analysts say $8.7 billion is expected to be invested in wind power in the next five years, while the corporation has invested about $300 million in wind projects to date.
And international investors are warning the government’s move sends a bad message about how safe it is to do business in Australia.
The directive is just the latest salvo in the government’s attacks on the wind industry.
Brotherhood of St Laurence exposes Victoria’s unfair electricity charges
A critique of the Victorian retail electricity market http://apo.org.au/research/critique-victorian-retail-electricity-market Brotherhood of St Laurence 7 July 2015
The Brotherhood of St Laurence commissioned Bruce Mountain from Carbon and Energy Markets (CME) to investigate the Victorian retail electricity market.
Electricity costs have been rising across Australia’s National Electricity Market since 2007. In most Australian states rising network costs – the poles and wires – have been the primary cause of these price increases.
However, the Victorian case is different. Network costs are lower than in other states, and haven’t risen as much. High retail charges appear to be the cause.
The report and accompanying summary, released 7 July 2015, investigate the dynamics of the retail energy market and how that impacts on householders bills……..
Victoria’s new wind farms going ahead
New wind farms for Victoria by Mark Eggleton, AFR, Jul 8 2015 This content is produced by The Australian Financial Review in commercial partnership with GE With the first new wind farm development beginning construction in Victoria since the election of the Coalition government recently, Australia could be on the brink of a new burst of activity in the renewable energy sector.
It follows the recent announcement of the $450 million Ararat project to build Australia’s third-largest wind farm in south-western Victoria with financing provided by developer Renewable Energy Systems (RES), turbine-maker General Electric and two other backers.
Yet while the new facility at Coonooer Bridge owes nothing to the recent agreement on the renewable energy target, the Ararat announcement came within days of the RET deal being passed in Parliament. Both projects come at a time when Australian business is starting to feel mildly confident about Australia’s energy future with the RET deal delivering much-needed certainty to the sector. Moreover, both wind developments play to the country’s natural resource strengths.
WIND SPEEDS
GE’s sales and finance managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Jason Willoughby, says Australia is blessed with great renewable energy resources – both from a wind perspective and from a solar perspective.
“I speak to colleagues in the US and in Europe and we compare what the wind speeds in Australia are, and they’re amazed that they’re so good and well located to where the load is.”
Importantly for Australia, Willoughby said the renewable energy target will unlock upwards of $10 billion of investment. http://www.afr.com/news/special-reports/australia-energy-future/new-wind-farms-for-victoria-20150708-gi6ulf
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.”
GDF SUEZ Australian Energy, coal mine owner, investing big into solar energy
“Solar is becoming totally competitive,” “Solar is an energy of the future. It is the energy with the biggest potential for development. It’s no longer a subsidized niche.”
the shift by Engie from centralised fossil fuel and nuclear capacity to one based around decentralised renewable energy generation is typical of the transformation going on around the world – with Europe’s E.ON, RWE and Vattenfall, and in the US, with generators such as NRG, and network operators in California, New York and elsewhere.
Hazelwood owner makes big push into solar energy, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson on 10 July 2015 The owner of the Hazelwood coal-fired power station, the dirtiest generator in Australia, has announced a major push into renewable energy, snapping up the international solar farm developer SolaireDirect for about $A300 million.
GDF Suez, now known as Engie under a massive re-branding campaign that signals its shift from fossil 
fuels and nuclear to renewable energy, will become the largest solar and wind developer in France after the purchase.
But its big focus is on the international scene. Gerard Mestrallet, the CEO of Engie, one of the biggest operators of nuclear plants in Europe, says new solar now beats new nuclear on price, with new solar parks costing between $US60 and $US90/MWh. Continue reading
Telstra Business Award goes to Family-owned business Country Solar NT
Family-owned business Country Solar NT named 2015 Telstra Northern Territory Business of the Year CRAIG DUNLOP NT NEWS JULY 04, 2015
A FAMILY-owned business has taken out the Territory’s most prestigious business prize just five short years after opening its doors.
Country Solar NT, which is owned by husband and wife team Jeremy and Pam Hunt, was named 2015 Telstra Northern Territory Business of the Year at a gala ceremony at the Darwin Convention Centre last night.
The company, which began with the couple selling solar panels from the back of their ute, now has clients all across the Top End, including schools, supermarkets and remote communities.
Mr Hunt said the business was committed to providing a high quality local service.
“We’re local and we want to ensure that locals are getting the best renewable energy products available at the best prices to meet their energy needs,” he said.
“Amid the ever-changing rules about solar PV and the past performance of fly-in fly-out solar contractors, we have provided a stable alternative for the home, business and government markets.”
Mr Hunt said the business was committed to the local community and providing sustainable energy………http://www.ntnews.com.au/business/family-owned-business-country-solar-nt-named-2015-telstra-northern-territory-business-of-the-year/story-fnk2tq5v-1227428467238
Tasmania’s Energy Minister hails wind farms, disagrees with Tony Abbott
State Energy Minister Matthew Groom hails wind farms in departure from PM HELEN KEMPTON MERCURY JULY 03, 2015 UNLIKE the Prime Minister, Tasmania’s Energy Minister Matthew Groom is a fan of wind farms and says more infrastructure needs to be built to capitalise on the state’s renewable energy headstart.
“I support the renewable energy broadly,” Mr Groom said after speaking at yesterday’s Tasmanian Minerals and Energy conference at Queenstown. “We have extraordinary resources in Tasmania and some of the best sites on the face of the planet on which to build them
Mr Groom said he was pleased the passing of Australia Renewable Energy Target legislation had given certainty to the wind industry and he looked forward to seeing progress on a new wind farm at Granville Harbour, near Zeehan.
Mr Groom said building a second interconnector cable across Bass Strait to export power was a key part of making the most of our renewable energy advantages. 
He said Japanese investors who recently visited Tasmania were gobsmacked by the state’s energy mix, and we needed to harness that competitive advantage………http://www.themercury.com.au/news/
New wave power technology set to boost economy in Port Fairy, Victoria
Hope for $21m Port Fairy prototype wave power unit to boost local jobs http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-02/hope-for-prototype-wave-power-unit-to-boost-port/6588930, 2 July 15
Moyne Shire Council says the construction of the state’s first prototype wave power unit off the Port Fairy coast, in south-west Victoria, is set to boost the local economy.
The $21 million project, which will be installed in November, is expected to feed 250 kilowatts of renewable energy into the national grid.Mayor Colin Ryan said it was a significant event for the renewable wave energy industry and Victoria.He is hoping it will create new jobs in the region.
“I’m very happy to hear the news, I think it’s a great opportunity for Port Fairy with potential work opportunities for our locals, be it employment directly involved with the project or service industries and businesses in the town supporting the workers that come for the project,” he said.
“It being the first type of its power generation is a significant event and being the first one in Victoria … to do with currents and it was the desired locality for the operation, which is good news.”
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