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Reference: Pages 4-5, Attachment C to the Council of Australian
Governments’ Communique, 10 February 2006. COAG Secretariat, Department
of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 3-5 National Circuit, Barton ACT
2600. Phone: (02) 6271 5597. Fax: (02) 6271 5540.
http://www.coag.gov.au

Erisk Net, 24/2/2006

Reference: Submission by Origin Energy on Department of
Infrastructure issues paper on “Driving investment in renewable energy
in Victoria – Options for a Victorian market-based measure”. 1 February
2006. Address: Level 21, 360 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne VIC 3000. GPO
Box 186C, Melbourne VIC 3002. Phone: (03) 9652 5555. Fax: (03) 9652
5553. Department of Infrastructure address: Level 14, 80 Collins
Street, Melbourne VIC 3000. GPO Box 2797, Melbourne VIC 3001. Phone:
(03) 9655 6666. Fax (03) 9655 6752.
http://www.originenergy.com.au
http://www.doi.vic.gov.au

Erisk Net, 24/2/2006

After years of ongoing battles in the Sumatran rainforest, the World
Wildlife Fund and logging company Asia Pacific Resources International
Holdings (APRIL) have negotiated an agreement allowing APRIL to
continue logging outside the Tesso Nilo national park.

Environmental
activists have maintained an ongoing watch on the island, reporting
repeated breaches of the law and international agreements by the
logging company. A concerted international campaign has led to the
company giving up certain activities in recognition of its right to
work on the island. As part of the negotiated deal APRIL will encourage
other companies to log sustainably.

Full story at Grist  

The cost impact of wind energy outside the broader energy market should
be considered, Origin Energy said in its submissions on the Victorian
Department of Infrastructure issues paper on “Driving investment in
renewable energy in Victoria – Options for a Victorian market-based
measure”.

Valid part of sector: Origin said wind energy represented a
steadily growing component of renewable generation in Australia, and
therefore a valid part of the sector’s capacity to abate greenhouse gas
emissions.

Two forms of support needed because of intermittent nature: It
said extra wind capacity would require two forms of generation support
because of the intermittent nature of the underlying energy source:

• variability outside 5-minute dispatch intervals – gas turbine
generation, which can take between 15 and 30 minutes to reach maximum
output, was either required to run to adjust for wind generation
variability or to stand idle as back-up support ; and

• variability inside 5-minute dispatch intervals – ancillary services
generation was required, sometimes at significant extra cost, to cater
for wind generation variability.

Consumers pay for extra support: Origin said energy consumers
ultimately bore the costs of both forms of generation support.
Moreover, these costs were magnified as greater amounts of wind
generation were connected to the system and more generation support was
required.

Different situation overseas: In a footnote, Origin said that in
countries where a substantial proportion of the energy supply mix was
wind generation (such as Denmark and Germany) the effects of
intermittency could be minimised as the number and spread of wind farms
increased. Australia’s wind industry was not of a comparable diversity
and magnitude, nor was the interconnectedness of the National
Electricity Market (NEM) as advanced as it was in Europe.

Reference: Submission by Origin Energy on Department of
Infrastructure issues paper on “Driving investment in renewable energy
in Victoria – Options for a Victorian market-based measure”. 1
February. Address: Level 21, 360 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne. Vic.
3000. GPO Box 186C, Melbourne. Vic. 3002. Phone: (03) 9652 5555. Fax:
(03) 9652 5553. Department of Infrastructure address: Level 14, 80
Collins Street, Melbourne. Vic. 3000. GPO Box 2797, Melbourne. Vic.
3001. Phone: (03) 9655 6666. Fax (03) 9655 6752.
http://www.originenergy.com.au

Erisk Net, 23/2/2006

Plans to expand to 26,000ha: Cubbie Station now has about
16,500ha planted with cotton, but under an aggressive corporate plan
for expansion, it aims to increase that to 26,000ha by September next
year.

500,000ML storage capacity: Cubbie Station manager John Grabbe
said the station had an allocation of 150,000 megalitres a year from
nearby Balance River – part of the Murray-Darling system – and the
flats around it, but it had storage capacity of 500,000 megalitres
through a series of interlocking dams.

Operation within allocation: “What you do with the water is more
important than the volumes you have,” he said. “We operate completely
within the allocation we have from the Queensland Government.

Water would evaporate anyway: “A lot of people criticise us for
diverting water from the floodplains, but all of the water we divert
into our property would otherwise evaporate and be lost. If Cubbie
didn’t exist, the same amount of water would be going downstream,”
Grabbe added.

Plans for better crop rotation: Grabbe said the company could
manage the expansion without extra water by making efficiencies –
better water storage and better crop rotation.

Reduced rate of evaporation: The main measure the station has
taken to improve its water use has been to store it in larger and
deeper dams, so the rate of evaporation – important in a hot climate –
is reduced.

Dams as deep as 8m: In the area where Cubbie operates, the top
1.7m of the water in any dam is lost through evaporation. The station
dams have a depth of up to 8m, far deeper than most of the dams in the
surrounding area.

$440m public company: Cubbie has recently joined another cotton
operation at nearby St George to form the Cubbie Group, an unlisted
public company chaired by former Queensland treasurer Keith De Lacy,
with assets of $440 million.

The Australian, 23/2/2006, p. 2