Vol. 17 No. 2
FREE PUBLICATION
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Winter picnic Cold winter weather has failed to prevent families and children from making the most of school holidays. Youngsters pictured enjoying the warmth of a campfire with family and friends at Mt Arapiles camping ground are, from left, Lily Bond, Samuel Janetzki, Ella Janetzki, Hugh Bond, Danae Martin, Ruby Janetzki, Paddy Martin, Jack Bond and Ben Janetzki. Picture: DEAN LAWSON
Wind farm plans on hold By DEAN LAWSON
A
company considering building a $600-million wind farm between Horsham and Warracknabeal will wait for results of a Federal Government review before pursuing the project. RES Australia, which has outlined plans for a 32-squarekilometre farm at Murra Warra, is among renewable-energy firms across the country awaiting news about the future of the government’s Renewable Energy Target or RET scheme. It expects a Commonwealth decision on the biennial review of the scheme in the middle of next month. The scheme provides financial incentives for
firms to ensure that renewable sources generate 20 percent of Australia’s electricity by 2020. While RES Australia is considering the Murra Warra project, which would involve more than 100 windmills across 22 properties, it is already well advanced in developing a 75mill farm at Ararat. RES Australia Murra Warra project manager Kevin Garthwaite said that if the government scrapped the scheme, as many in the industry feared, it would jeopardise or shut the door on many projects, including the Wimmera proposal. “What we don’t need to happen is for the scheme to be scrapped altogether – that would cause a lot of problems
IN THIS ISSUE
right across Australia,” he said. “The ideal scenario is that the government keeps the rate as it is, but other changes might be workable, depending on what they are and what levels they set. “It might be that we have to scale back the Murra Warra project.” A baseline rate, set by the 2020 project target of 41,000 gigawatt hours of power, determines how much government financial support is available for renewable-energy firms through the sale of energy-generation ‘certificates’. The certificates, created and traded through an internetbased registry, are managed by the government’s Clean Energy
Regulator. The government review is examining the overall economic, environmental and social impact of the scheme, such as household electricity prices.
Prices Mr Garthwaite said government modelling had revealed a slight short-term increase but significant long-term reduction in electricity prices. “The whole industry is waiting and while some wind companies are taking a more pessimistic view, others like ourselves are more optimistic,” he said. “We are investing cautiously for various scenarios.” Mr Garthwaite said a review
outcome favouring the industry might lead to RES Australia lodging a planning application for the Murra Warra project at the end of next year. “From where we stand at the moment, if everything went well, we would expect it to be running by 2019-20,” he said. Yarriambiack Shire and Horsham Rural City council respective chief executives Ray Campling and Peter Brown joined other council representatives on a tour of a wind farm in Macarthur in the Western District to gain a greater understanding of the project. Both said the project presented considerable economic opportunities for their respective municipalities.
• Movie set in region • New Ararat medical clinic • Lost in the Bush anniversary
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Mr Brown: “Obviously at this stage it isn’t a concrete proposal but as far as we’re concerned it represents a really important potential investment, not only for Horsham and Yarriambiack, but for the whole region.” Member for Mallee Andrew Broad said while he believed there was a place for a modified Renewable Energy Target scheme, he had concerns about any industry dependent on a government subsidy program to be competitive. “The end game we have to get to is that renewable energy is the same price as non-renewable energy,” he said. “Then we are on the way to to achieving clear environmental outcomes.”