Labor victory in SA a calming influence on turbulent renewables
Renew Economy reports that the result of the state election in South Australia is a positive sign for renewable energies. Our three leading states for renewables also happen to come under little to no influence from fossil fuel concerns.
Jay Weatherill’s Labor government in Adelaide and and Mike Hodgman’s team in Tasmania are both in favour of supporting the renewable energy target, and the renewable initiatives coming from the ACT in recent times all swim against the stream of the Prime Minister’s ideologies.
- SA – making up half of Australia’s wind power, and currently tracking at 31% of power generated by renewable sources, South Australian consumers have enjoyed a drop in the wholesale price of electricity paying on average $88 per year less than they were four year ago (even after the introduction of the carbon tax).
- ACT – their recent announcement of a 50MW solar centre is only a step toward their goal of 550MW and obtaining 90% of their energy from renewable sources by 2020.
- TAS – already sources roughly 90% of its energy from renewable sources (mostly hydro with some support from wind and solar). Although the state has elected a conservative party for the first time in sixteen years, the government owned electricity suppliers would be hurt if the RET were removed and the market value of renewable certificates fell (which they have since Dick Warburton was announced as head of the RET review board).
Hopes may be fading on the RET remaining in place without alteration or outright scrapping, but success at the state level gives hope to the several billion dollars worth of proposals depending on the continuation of the RET.
WA, NSW and QLD all have state-owned energy utilities that are suffering under the obligation of funding renewable subsidy programs. While Victoria’s energy utilities are privatised, recent fires at the Hazelwood facility that left Morwell with a dangerous level of air pollution have forced Premier Napthine to consider relaxing restrictions on wind power generation in the the state.
