Page 969 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 29 March 2011
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It is a duty of us in this place to talk about the issues that are coming down the line, the issues that will affect this city in the future, to start planning for them now, to get this city ready for the changes that are coming in the future, because we cannot just take that short-term approach. We are leaders and we have to take a position of leadership. It is a responsibility that we accept when we fight hard to get elected to this place.
The Greens want to talk about the sort of changes we are going to make to this city so that, if and when this comes down the line, we are positioned to ensure that we have insulated the residents of this city against these problems.
MR HARGREAVES (Brindabella) (3.51): I hope we are not talking about sesame oil or peanut oil because I will starve if that happens. I am delighted to be able to contribute to this debate and would like to pick up on the central challenge associated with our transition to a clean, low carbon economy—our need for clean and renewable energy sources and a sustainable future for the ACT.
We know that the burning of fossil fuels for power generation is a major contributor to climate change. In the ACT, electricity usage accounts for around 62 per cent of our emissions. Nationally it accounts for 37 per cent. Clearly, we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels while recognising that it will take time to transition to renewables. We need to manage this shift in a way that enhances the welfare of our community.
Locally, the ACT is advancing the country’s most ambitious renewable energy scheme through our feed-in-tariff arrangements. As reported to the Assembly last month, the scheme has already proven an outstanding success and has been warmly embraced by the ACT community. As at 4 March, 4,010 solar photovoltaic arrays had been installed across ACT households, community groups and business premises to harness free and clean energy from the sun. Over 6.1 million kilowatt hours of clean energy had been returned to the local electricity grid up to 31 December 2010, representing over seven megawatts of clean energy generating capacity. This contribution, just a fraction of what the scheme will ultimately deliver, is equivalent to the full annual electricity requirements of around 850 ACT households.
The recent expansion of the scheme introduces support for mid-sized installations of up to 200 kilowatt capacity. Communal generators operated by not-for-profit community groups and body corporates will now also be eligible. The expanded ACT feed-in tariff scheme will also allow the territory to provide 25 per cent of its average annual electricity use to be met from distributed generation located in the territory itself. Later this year legislation will be introduced to develop large-scale solar generation capacity in the ACT. Through an open and transparent process, a first release will include up to 40 megawatts of large solar generation capacity, making it, in aggregate, one of the largest solar generation projects in Australia.
Our commitment to encouraging local renewable energy must, however, be matched by efforts at a national level to transform the national electricity market to deliver cleaner and more sustainable electricity supplies. Traditionally, less than one per cent
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