Page 2315 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 16 June 2009
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be. This project will be one of the largest solar powered facilities built to date. That is the commitment of this Labor government. But what do we hear from those opposite—nothing but carping and moaning and opposition for the sake of opposition from the Liberal Party. Get behind this project. This is good for Canberra. This is good for the economy and good for the environment. They are just not interested.
As members would know, the government is preparing a range of other responses to help build Canberra as the solar capital of the country. We have, of course, enacted the nation-leading feed-in tariff scheme, which commenced operation in March this year and we are seeing good take-up in relation to this scheme.
In the 15 months before the scheme was launched, there were 255 solar PV installations in the ACT. By the time the scheme was launched, this had doubled to 575, and three months on we are at approximately 700 installations—or 21 per cent growth in three months. That is a very strong endorsement from the Canberra community of their support for progressive Labor policy.
We are very pleased to be building on this program. I flagged that the government is undertaking further review of the feed-in tariff legislation and looking at its potential expansion in stage 2. I look forward to providing a detailed discussion paper on that matter shortly to allow the community to give their say on how they believe the scheme could be expanded.
The government is also focussing on improving the provision of green power. Electricity use in Canberra is, of course, the most significant generator of greenhouse gas emissions for our city in the stationary energy sector. For that reason we are putting, and have put, in place detailed policies to encourage more widespread use of renewable energy through the green power scheme.
Green power is a government-accredited emissions-free renewable energy purchased by energy retailers and sourced from sun, wind, water and waste sources. As of 1 April this year, I was very pleased to make a new regulation that makes it easier for people to connect to green power as their first product energy choice. The new legislation means that all electricity retailers must offer the green power product as the first offer to all people signing up for an electricity contract or renewing an existing electricity contract. This will hopefully put this product at the forefront of people’s minds and, had it been demonstrated in other places, increase the take-up of green power. This is an exciting initiative and one that we hope will deliver substantial benefits to the territory in encouraging greater take-up of renewable energy.
In summary, Labor has a strong record on renewable energy. It is doing the work to establish a solar power facility. It has done the work to put in place a feed-in tariff. It has done the work to put in place the green power first offer choice scheme. These are important initiatives, all undertaken in the first six months of the government’s term. We will be building on this record and continuing to deliver, in the way people expect of this Labor government, progressive, sustainable policy for the future of our city.
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