Page 5512 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 17 November 2010
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We now know the costs of coal-fired power are not just what we pay on our electricity bills. If anyone in this place is still purchasing black energy from their electricity retailers, let us be clear that you are not paying the full price for that black coal you are using. The planet is wearing the burden of the cost.
When it comes to the feed-in tariff, I see that Mr Seselja and his team have suddenly discovered this week the government’s modelling on the larger scale feed-in tariff, despite the fact that the modelling has been out in the community for nearly a year. In fact, the modelling may not even have predicted the drop in price of industrial scale solar. I will come back to that point shortly.
But let us be honest about the rising costs because of the feed-in tariff and where we will end up and when. If the ACT government is true to its word and delivers the capacity of large-scale solar that it has outlined, that is, 210 megawatts, Canberrans might be paying around $4 a week for several large-scale solar farms that will generate local power. I say “might” because we know that the price of industrial scale solar is dropping. Anybody who has done any research on that and listens to industry knows that is the case.
The Greens believe this is a pretty small price to pay for something that is going to be so important to the energy future of this city. I am concerned that it feels as if the Canberra Liberals have, over the past few weeks, effectively started campaigning against the development of renewable energy in this town. I am concerned this campaign will result in the ACT stalling the development of renewable energy projects. I do not know whether that is what Mr Seselja’s intention is but, if it is and if he succeeds, I hope that he will take the responsibility for that campaign when the cost of coal-fired power goes through the roof in 10 years time and Canberrans have no other energy options because of the short-sightedness of the Canberra Liberals. I hope he can then explain the cost of electricity to his constituents.
I would like to make another point about electricity prices, feed-in tariffs and peak demands. The main thing that has driven electricity prices up in recent years is the need to invest in the network. The pressure on the network has been caused by a massive increase in peak demands, the electricity that is used at the hottest time of day or the busiest time of day, when people get home from work and put on their air conditioners.
I know Mr Seselja is concerned that household solar costs the rest of the community money and he thinks this is unjust. He might also like to consider that in Queensland, for example, the associated network update cost of one person putting in an air-conditioning unit is $3,000. That is not a cost to the owner who is putting in the air conditioner. That is a cost to the whole community. That is a cost that every single electricity consumer has to share because one individual has installed an air-conditioning unit. Luckily, solar panels generate electricity at this time of peak demands. So they provide another way to offset investment in new network capacity and provide the distributed energy that can help ameliorate the need to upgrade the grid.
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