|
January 5, 2010
The Rudd Government has been around long enough for us to know that it says that it wants to promote renewables (the 2020 target, which requires Australia to generate 20% of its energy from clean sources?) whilst it goes for other policies to protect the coal-fired energy companies behind the scenes.
photovoltaic solar power station, Granadilla, Spain
First, the Rudd Government has no intention whatsoever of kicking dirty energy sources like coal off the national electricity grid. Secondly, a lack of connections to the national grid, which were not designed to channel power from the scattered and remote locations that suit renewables, has stalled the uptake of alternative energy. Thirdly, there is no real policy to transform the national grid to a renewable one, or even to remove the barriers that currently prevent renewable generators connecting to the national grid.
There is no vision in Australia for a continent-wide renewables supergrid so that electricity can be supplied across the continent from wherever the wind is blowing, the sun is shining the rocks are hot, or the waves are crashing.
photovoltaic solar power station + wind farm, Granadilla, Spain
There is no such action from the Rudd Government. Their action--and those of the states--- is about protecting the coal fired power stations vis-a-vis the national electricity grid, whilst doing little to solve one of the biggest criticisms faced by renewable power – that unpredictable weather means it is unreliable.
Update
What we have in energy policy terms are little bits of investment in renewables here and there rather than a concentrated investment to create a low-carbon economy. Penny Wong's talk about creating a low-carbon economy is just rhetoric that covers up the continued use of coal fired power stations. There is no attempt to increase the size of the renewable energy target, no moves to start building gas-fired power stations on the sites of the existing brown-coal power stations, nor any requirements that mining companies source power from off grid solar/thermal power stations .
In an op.ed in The Australian Richard Denniss says that:
The CPRS legislation proposes that we begin with a fixed pollution permit price of $10 a tonne. Wong has said while her scheme isn't perfect, something is better than nothing. She should take her own advice and introduce a carbon price; $10 isn't enough but it's better than nothing.The advantage of a $10 starting price is it would raise revenue to invest in efficient technologies and send a signal to new investors that the old days are over, while not being so high that it would have a significant effect on our so called emission-intensive trade-exposed industries.
Investing in efficient renewable technologies is the key. However, the Rudd Government is more focused on defending its flawed emission trading schemes--its such a poor example of an emissions trading scheme---- from those who would question it. All we get is the standard talking points repeated over and over again. Block block block.
|
The SA Government says that it leads the nation in renewable power. Is it connected to the national electricity grid?