Page 583 - Week 02 - Thursday, 16 February 2017
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committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest and setting firm interim targets to get us there.
The ACT government has been, and continues to be, a strong supporter of renewable electricity, placing us in the lead both nationally and internationally. But we have an even bigger vision for our territory to be an export-oriented hub for renewable energy innovation to drive the development of a more diverse, creative and vibrant ACT economy.
Our renewables reverse auction process is delivering renewable electricity to ACT households at record low feed-in tariff prices. But it is also delivering much more to the Canberra community. It is creating new research opportunities in battery storage and integration at the ANU, and new trades training programs related to renewable energy at the Canberra Institute of Technology. It is attracting national and international companies to the ACT. We have attracted over $1.5 billion in renewable energy investment and achieved a 400 per cent growth in renewable energy jobs over five years.
The ACT’s experience clearly demonstrates the economic benefits offered by the transition to renewable electricity. Encouraging innovation in the renewable electricity sector provides long-term benefits for our local economy and provides a clean, reliable power supply for the ACT. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a respected energy industry analyst, the electricity price needed to make a new coal-fired power plant economically viable is likely to be over $135 per megawatt hour. Prices for some recent renewable energy projects in Australia have achieved around $70 to $80 per megawatt hour. Renewable electricity is not only cheaper but also continues to reduce its price as technology continues to advance rapidly.
The chief executive of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Oliver Yates, recently stated that the investment case for new coal-powered investment was “seriously challenged” because the price of renewables was declining; therefore there was “no point” in building new coal stations that were likely to provide electricity at a higher price.
However, the Australian government continues to support polluting projects like the Adani Carmichael coal mine. The extraction and burning of coal from this mine would produce over 4.7 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases. We have also recently heard from the Prime Minister that the federal government will subsidise clean coal-fired power generation. The Australian government’s actions are not only inconsistent with the science but also utterly in conflict with their own commitments under the Paris climate agreement and also inconsistent with the findings of the draft Finkel report into the security of Australia’s energy system.
There is a national climate policy review being undertaken in 2017. The ACT government will work to influence the outcomes of this review and ensure it leads to more ambitious action on climate change and contributes to a stronger nationally coherent climate policy framework, as well as a resilient future for us all. In the absence of national action, smaller jurisdictions—cities, states and regions—will
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