20 July 2016, Renew Economy, ACT opens solar scheme to low-income households. The ACT’s $2 million low-income solar scheme has opened for registrations of interest from eligible households, wishing to install rooftop PV but unable to afford the upfront investment. ACT environment minister Simon Corbell said on Wednesday that people living in low-income households in the Territory could now put their hands up to take part in the pilot program, which will run for the next four years. The program, which is expected to start installing systems in late 2016 or early 2017, will be run as a pilot, initially, to determine the best approach for future delivery, and will be developed in conjunction with key stakeholders including ACT Housing, community welfare organisations, and low-income loan groups. The opening of the renewables scheme – one of many being successfully rolled out in the ACT – comes at a time where rooftop solar and wind energy are being accused of driving up power prices in some parts of Australia. But as we have noted on various separate occasions, the accusations, coming mainly from conservative politicians and media outlets, are ill-informed and misdirected, and ignore the many benefits solar and wind have brought to the national electricity market. ACT’s Corbell, who is the mastermind behind the territory’s ambitious 100 per cent renewable energy target, has demonstrated these benefits very well, and is poised to deliver massive savings to consumers in the nation’s capital, as this article explains. Read More here
Tag Archives: State Govt
12 July 2016, Renew Economy, ACT could make windfall gains from bold 100% renewables target Who is the smartest energy minister in the country? At the moment, you would have to say it was the ACT’s Simon Corbell, the mastermind behind the territory’s bold 100 per cent renewable energy target, and who is poised to deliver massive savings to consumers in the nation’s capital. Indeed, if current wholesale electricity prices continue as they are across Australia, the ACT will not just have zero emissions electricity by 2020, it may also be getting most of it for free. This extraordinary situation arises out of the nature of the contracts that the ACT government has written with the project developers who have won its unique reverse auction tenders. The ACT has locked in fixed prices at between $77/MWh and $92/MWh for a total of 400MW of wind energy capacity so far. If the wholesale price is below those contracts, the ACT government pays the difference. If it is above, the ACT electricity utility ActewAGL receives the excess. In the past two months, wholesale prices across Australia have gone through the roof, mostly because of soaring gas prices (at record levels in most states), and supply constraints. Some of these rises have already been passed on to consumers. The first of the ACT commissioned wind farms, the 19MW Coonooer Bridge project in Victoria, opened earlier this year and gets a guaranteed $81.50/MWh from the ACT. But prices in Victoria have regularly jumped above $100/MWh in the past two months. Read More here
10 June 2016, Environmental justice Australia, Victorian climate change laws: A state stepping up. The Victorian government today released their intentions to change Victoria’s climate change laws. Climate change is real, and it’s happening now. The devastating bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef due to warmer water is not something that can be dismissed or hidden, despite the best efforts of the Federal government – and yet Australia is still ticking off on new coal mines. With the federal election just around the corner, there’s a very real possibility that we’ll get another three years of Turnbull government tinkering around the edges of the real, lasting changes we need to make to avoid the worst climate change scenarios. But we do not need to wait for federal government action. State governments can take on the role of action on climate. Today the Victorian government are promising to do just that. Their plans for Victoria’s climate laws draw heavily on Environmental Justice Australia’s proposed Climate Charter. A report by the Independent Review Panel suggested that the government embrace many of our proposed measures. They include emissions targets enshrined in law, and provisions that mean climate change will need to be taken into account in a whole range of government decision and policies – embedding climate change considerations throughout the Victorian Government. Read more here
9 June 2016, Renew Economy, Victorian government targets net zero emissions by 2050. The Victorian Labor government has pledged to get the state – host to the country’s remaining brown coal generators – to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with the release of a series of five-year interim climate change policies and programs. The yet to be legislated, long-term emissions reduction target comes in response to the recommendations of the 2015 Independent Review of the Climate Change Act 2010, most of which have been accepted by the Andrews government. The supporting policies, released by Premier Daniel Andrews and climate and energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio on Thursday, include a wide-ranging emissions reduction pledge program for the private, government and community sectors. The government said the pledge program – called TAKE2 – would give those businesses and organisations already acting on climate change the opportunity to showcase their efforts and to build on it; while also inspiring others to take action. Participation in the program will also give businesses and organisations a say on the development of a 2020 interim emissions reduction target for the state, which the government plans to have in place by the end of the year. Further to the review’s recommendations, the government has also committed to amend the Climate Change Act (CCA) to require a Victorian Climate Change Strategy every five years, incorporating mitigation and adaptation; require integrated Adaptation Action Plans for key climate exposed sectors; and embed climate mitigation and adaptation as a key consideration in government decision making. Read more here