Dangerous, illegal policy Spartanburg Herald Journal For almost 30 years, the government has been collecting a tax on the power bills of consumers who use electricity from nuclear power plants. The money is supposed to fund a permanent method of disposing of nuclear waste. But after collecting billions … See all stories on this topic »
Grain sorghum is poised to become the first official advanced biofuel and the next big biofuel investment to watch closely, as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prepares for its final approval of the grain for ethanol production. Sorghum has many advantages and investors should take note of the recent leaps made towards advanced biofuel status. Most significantly, sorghum is versatile, providing starch, sugar and lignocellulose, and it has maturation period of only four months and can thrive in poorer soil. Unlike corn, it also does…Read more…
One of Australia’s largest solar projects is to be built in NSW after AGL Energy and PV manufacturer First Solar were awarded a $130 million grant from the federal government.
The $450 million project, to be built across two sites in Broken Hill and Nyngan, will generate enough electricity to power 30,000 homes when completed by the end of 2015.
AGL Energy and First Solar were awarded the $130 million grant under the federal government’s solar flagships program which supports the construction of large-scale, grid connected solar power stations.
Energy Minister Martin Ferguson reopened first-round bidding in February after the consortium behind the initial winner – the Moree Solar Farm – proposed major changes to its project and failed to meet a December deadline to secure a power purchasing agreement.
Mr Ferguson on Saturday said the 159 megawatt project in Broken Hill and Nyngan represented excellent value for money and would ensure Australia brought industrial-scale solar power to market.
“At the end of the day it all comes down to cost and if large scale solar is going to succeed in Australia it has to be cost competitive,” Mr Ferguson said in a statement.
The project is expected to create 150 jobs in Broken Hill during construction and up to 300 in Nyngan.
The energy minister said a rigorous assessment process by the independent Solar Flagships Council found the AGL-First Solar bid had the highest level of merit overall “representing value-for-money, low risk and high commercial viability”.
But he noted all short-listed applicants, including the Moree Solar Farm, TRUenergy and Infigen-Suntech bids, were of “high merit” and would be referred to the new Australian Renewable Energy Agency for future funding consideration.
One of Australia’s largest solar projects is to be built in NSW after AGL Energy and PV manufacturer First Solar were awarded a $130 million grant from the federal government.
The $450 million project, to be built across two sites in Broken Hill and Nyngan, will generate enough electricity to power 30,000 homes when completed by the end of 2015.
AGL Energy and First Solar were awarded the $130 million grant under the federal government’s solar flagships program which supports the construction of large-scale, grid connected solar power stations.
Energy Minister Martin Ferguson reopened first-round bidding in February after the consortium behind the initial winner – the Moree Solar Farm – proposed major changes to its project and failed to meet a December deadline to secure a power purchasing agreement.
Mr Ferguson on Saturday said the 159 megawatt project in Broken Hill and Nyngan represented excellent value for money and would ensure Australia brought industrial-scale solar power to market.
“At the end of the day it all comes down to cost and if large scale solar is going to succeed in Australia it has to be cost competitive,” Mr Ferguson said in a statement.
The project is expected to create 150 jobs in Broken Hill during construction and up to 300 in Nyngan.
The energy minister said a rigorous assessment process by the independent Solar Flagships Council found the AGL-First Solar bid had the highest level of merit overall “representing value-for-money, low risk and high commercial viability”.
But he noted all short-listed applicants, including the Moree Solar Farm, TRUenergy and Infigen-Suntech bids, were of “high merit” and would be referred to the new Australian Renewable Energy Agency for future funding consideration.
Arguably, the Middle East and North Africa are ripe for renewable energy investment, particularly in the solar energy sector and specifically in terms of concentrated solar power (CSP). Because it relies on its own oil, it can afford the massive subsidies necessary to weather the transformation that could eventually make renewable energy affordable and accessible. Those subsidies become more affordable when Middle Eastern governments take stock of the savings on rising domestic oil and gas consumption that can be diverted to more revenue-generating…Read more…
Activist groups GetUp and Greenpeace have taken aim at the proposed Galilee Basin mega coal mine projects by targeting its potential international investors.
The groups, in conjunction with BankTrack, have taken out a full page newspaper advertisement in the Asian edition of the Financial Times, alerting interested backers to what they say are “key investment risks”.
But in a rare show of accord, both the state and federal governments have condemned the campaign, with Treasurer Wayne Swan and Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney accusing the organisations of “obnoxious behaviour” and of taking a narrow view.
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The advertisement, titled “Investor Alert”, is headed “will you sink your profits on the Great Barrier Reef?” and specifically mentions the $6.4 billion Alpha Coal project, which is partly owned by the Indian investment conglomerate, GVK, and Gina Rinehart.
It goes on to warn of “major public controversy” in relation to “political interference” in the state government’s approval process and advises of growing public concern regarding the project and its associated infrastructure, which it says will likely result in “lengthy delays and significant cost blow outs”.
GetUp campaigns director Sam McLean said the advertisement, which cost “tens of thousands of dollars” and was funded through donations, was just one stage of the campaign.
“We’ve planned an initial ad this week and we’ll keep campaigning on the issue for as long as these projects are proposed,” he said.
Mr McLean said he believed the impact of the advertisements “could be huge” and the Financial Times was a deliberate choice because of its reach.
“We know that reading this newspaper is part of a daily routine for the analysts of major Asia investment companies,” he said.
“We know that the story that they (investors and analysts) have been getting is very one-sided, that they have been told that there are easy projects, they have government approval, they have public support, that it is going to be a quick and easy process, but in fact there are huge numbers of risks with these projects that investors haven’t been told about.”
The most concerning risk to GetUp and other like-minded organisations, Mr McLean said, was the impact to the Great Barrier Reef.
But Mr Swan said while the federal government “had to pull … the Queensland government in line”, he believed the advertisement was “deplorable”.
“They should be condemned and I condemn them in the strongest possible way,” Mr Swan told reporters in Brisbane.
Despite a political stoush between the federal and state governments over the approval process for the Alpha mine, Mr Seeney said he backed Mr Swan’s comments.
“I think it could be damaging for the Queensland economy,” he said.
“I think anyone who takes a sensible look at the resources industry in Queensland can very quickly understand that the Queensland economy needs the resource sector.”
The Queensland Resources Council was even stronger in their criticism of the advertisement, with chief executive Michael Roche labelling the Greenpeace and GetUp campaigns “increasingly shrill and irrational” in a statement.
“GVK and other Indian companies are looking to Australian coal resources to improve the quality of life for millions of their people, which is possible only through access to affordable and plentiful supplies of electricity,” he said.
“For a country like India, coal is the energy source that ticks these boxes.
“I congratulate GVK Hancock on their commitment and vision and their thoroughness in preparation of their environmental impact statement for the mine and rail project, which goes to about 10,000 pages.
“With the stringent conditions placed on environmental management of the project, it can only be a win for both Queenslanders and the people of India.”
However, Mr McLean said campaign organisers would continue to target the mine where it hurt the most – investment.
“We are in discussion with some potential investors, but we can’t discuss [the details],” he said.
“We just think it is really important that they know the risks.”
