Australian Wind Industry To Prime Minister, Don't Blow It

LAUNCESTON, Tasmania, Australia, July 28, 2004 (ENS) - On the opening of the international wind energy conference, AUSWIND 2004, today in Launceston, Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon warned that Australia risks losing out on a multi-billion dollar wind energy boom.

Lennon told delegates to AusWIND 2004 that the Tasmanian government understands the deep concerns within the renewable energy industry following the release of the Howard Government’s Energy White Paper in June. He said Tasmania's representations to the federal government have been ignored.

“Tasmania is a leading generator of wind power but our efforts are being undermined by the Howard Government,” Lennon said.

Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon (Photo courtesy Office of the Premier)

Lennon said the federal Mandatory Renewable Energy Target should be raised significantly or investment would stagnate after 2007. It would mean Australia’s overall share of renewable energy was unlikely to increase by even one percent on 1997 levels by 2010, the premier said.

“Wind energy cannot be called alternative energy any more," said CEO of the European Wind Energy Association Corin Millais. "Last year the global wind industry turnover was over $A14 billion and the industry employed 95,000 people."

"This decade one-third of new generating capacity in the European Union will be provided by wind power," Millais told delegates.

In Australia today, wind farms generate over 200 megawatts of electricity - enough to power all of the homes in Canberra. By the end of the year this installed generating capacity will have doubled.

Launceston was chosen for this year's AUSWIND venue in order to take advantage of the opportunity to visit Australia's first turbine nacelle assembly plant owned by Vestas Australia at Burnie; the Haywards tower manufacturing factory at Launceston; and Tasmania's first wind farm at Woolnorth.

A plant to produce turbine blades is about to be built in Victoria.

Millais emphasized that Australia has a potentially large role to play in the global industry, “We are at the beginning of a boom and the global wind industry is projected to be worth over $A200 billion in total by 2012. Australia is well positioned to play a major part in the global wind energy boom," he said.

Wind turbine at Crookwell, New South Wales, Australia (Photo courtesy Industcards)

“There are currently over A$8 billion of wind energy projects proposed for Australia and over $5 billion of that investment is now at risk.” said Lloyd-Besson.

The wind sector investment is expected to provide thousands of jobs, mainly in hard-hit rural and regional areas. “Wind energy today is one of the fastest growing energy technologies in the world,” Lloyd-Besson said. “While global wind energy is flying high, the Australian sector risks being stuck on the ground without strong political support.”

The Australian wind energy industry is calling on the Howard government to increase its Mandatory Renewable Energy Target from the current level of one percent to 10 percent by 2010, a position that has support from environmental groups.

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) Council Tuesday called on Prime Minister John Howard and his government to "get serious about climate change" and raise the national target figure for renewable energy generation.

"A national target and roadmap for emission reductions would stimulate real action now and avoid more dramatic, disruptive and expensive changes later on," the ACF Council said.

The winds of Australia may be variable, but they are strong enough to generate enough clean energy to reduce Australian emission of greenhouse gases responsible for climage change.

Rick Maddox, vice president of the Australian Wind Energy Association, says that the geographical diversity of Australia's wind farm sites, subject as they are to varied weather patterns, helps to smooth out the effect of variable winds on the electricity grid.

"Debate over the amount of backup generation that may be required as wind penetration increases cannot mask the fact that whenever wind farms are operational, which is most of the time, they are a clean and sustainable contribution to our nation’s rapidly increasing energy needs," Maddox wrote last week in a letter to the editor of the Melbourne newspaper, "The Age."

Maddox cited a report commissioned by the Australian Greenhouse Office last year which found that the National Electricity Market is able to support installed wind capacity of up to 50 percent of the minimum demand in a local area, provided that the progessive development of wind farms is managed in a dispersed fashion to allow for the diversity benefits of wind variability.

Australia's Mawson research station now has two wind turbines. (Photo courtesy Australian Antarctic Division)

In June, the installation and commissioning of the first of two wind turbines planned for Australia's Antarctic Mawson Station was completed in is the first attempt by any nation to use wind power generation in Antarctica on a large scale, to reduce the use of diesel fuel.

The turbines, which must deal with winds in excess of 250 kilometers per hour, were provided and installed by the German company Enercon, and the system's technology was developed and installed by Powercorp Pty Ltd of Darwin.

The fierce Antarctic climatic conditions, with strong, gusty winds and freezing temperatures, place enormous stresses on wind turbine rotors and cause frequent mechanical failures. The logistics of installing efficient turbines posed significant challenges. But now that it is in place, the Mawson wind turbine system is capable of providing nearly a megawatt of renewable power to the research station.