17 September 2015, Renew Economy, Turnbull channels Abbott as he attacks Labor’s renewables target, ETS. Plus ça change. The more it changes, the more it stays the same. Despite Malcolm Turnbull’s tantalising sales pitch ahead of the leadership spill earlier this week, there wasno real expectation for quick policy change. But there was hope that at least the rhetoric might change once Turnbull dislodged Tony Abbott as head of the Liberal Party and as prime minister of Australia. It hasn’t happened. It is pretty much business as usual. Nothing has changed. On Wednesday, Turnbull attacked Labor’s 50 per cent renewable energy target as reckless, environment minister Greg Hunt trotted out his usual nonsense about the cost of Labor’s as yet unstated emissions reductions target, while Queensland Liberal Senator Ian Macdonald resumed his long-running campaign to describe climate change science as a hoax and a fraud. If that wasn’t enough, the federal Nationals rejected a motion put forward by progressive members from their Western Australia division to declare support for renewable energy. Meanwhile, in the Senate, the independent Senator John Madigan, head of a Coalition-supported wind inquiry, continued to wage war on the industry. Turnbull’s comments were particularly alarming, given his presumed support for renewable energy. He has yet to pronounce himself on the future of the Climate Change Authority, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation or the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, three institutions that Abbott tried unsuccessfully to destroy, but Turnbull was already dismissive of Labor’s proposed 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030. Read More here
Tag Archives: Renewables
8 September 2015, ARENA, Three months on and Nyngan is flying. The largest solar power plant in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere in Nyngan, NSW, is fully operational and has generated 60,000 MWh of renewable energy to date, according to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). Since achieving full generation in June 2015, the plant has been sending 102 MW of solar-generated electricity into the National Electricity Market. ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said the successful beginning of Nyngan’s operations was a significant milestone in the development of Australia’s large-scale solar sector. “AGL’s Solar Project at Nyngan and Broken Hill represents a big investment by the company and also by ARENA,” Mr Frischknecht said. “It’s already achieving one of ARENA’s key aims of increasing the amount of renewable energy in Australia. “And the knowledge gained from its successful launch and ongoing operations will lead to further improvements in technology and reductions in costs for the sector.” The solar plant, a partnership between AGL Energy Limited (AGL) and First Solar, is expected to produce around 230,000 MWh of electricity annually which is sufficient to meet the needs of approximately 33,000 NSW homes. Read More here
3 September 2015, Renew Economy, Graph of the Day: Big carbon cuts will not pull down economy. Australia Prime Minister Tony Abbott insists that the world should protect its one and only planet, but not at the cost of economic growth. Apart from the question of what sort of economic growth could be achieved in a degraded environment – think of the impacts on crops and agriculture, water scarcity, infrastructure and storm damage – here is some good news: setting ambitious targets to cut carbon emissions does not need to impact economic growth. How do we know this? Because the Abbott government’s own modelling tells us so. They commissioned economist Professor Warwick McKibbin to model the impact on various levels of emission reductions out to 2030. The blue bars on the left show us the various modelling of economic growth assuming no emission reductions. The dark bars show the impact with a 26 per cent target by 2030, and a 45 per cent target. Read More here
26 August 2015, Climate News Network, Solar power takes giant strides as prices fall. Massive solar power stations are being built in the world’s “sun belts” − with the US and India competing to have the largest in the world. The US Navy is investing in what will be the largest solar farm in the world in order to provide power for 14 of its bases. The climate of Arizona, where the two earlier phases of the Mesquite solar farm are already up and running, provides 300 days of sunshine a year. And the Navy’s deal to extend the farm is the largest purchase of renewable energy ever made by a US federal government agency. The solar farm project is one of a growing number being installed across what is known as the American Sun Belt − the southern states of America, which have expanding populations, plenty of sunshine, but also large areas of arid and unproductive land. The price of solar panels has now fallen so far worldwide that, in sunny climes, they can compete on cost with any other form of energy generation. This new generation of huge solar farms produces as much power as a large coal-fired plant. Read More here