Page 2782 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 17 September 2014

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(b) Canberra is becoming an internationally recognised centre for renewable energy innovation and investment; and

(3) calls on the Commonwealth Government to end the uncertainty for the renewable energy industry caused by its recent policy shifts, and to commit to supporting certainty for investment in renewable energy.

Madam Speaker, the ACT is proudly forging ahead with our 90 per cent renewable energy target for electricity by 2020. We have the Royalla solar farm, the largest PV farm in Australia, already online; we have the Mugga Lane farm on the way; and we have industry very interested in our wind energy auction.

There is support, strong support, by Canberrans for renewable energy, action on climate change and new energy technology. It is a very good news story for our industries and economy, with new expertise delivering these benefits at an affordable cost to consumers.

The ACT’s climate change strategy and action plan announced in 2012 set the pathway to achieve the greenhouse gas reduction targets set out in our Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act 2010. The ACT has the most ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets in Australia, with a 40 per cent reduction on 1990 levels by 2020 and zero emissions by 2060. Around 73 per cent of the emission reductions under action plan 2 will be achieved by ensuring 90 per cent of the ACT’s power consumption is sourced from renewable energy by 2020. In 2013 renewable energy is estimated to have accounted for about 19 per cent of the ACT’s electricity consumption.

The renewable energy target is made up of several renewable energy sources. Large renewable energy generators supported by large-scale feed-in tariffs, extended under the electricity feed-in act, account for around two-thirds of the renewable generation needed to reach the target. Other renewable energy sources make up the other third, including the ACT’s share of energy generated through the national large-scale renewable energy target scheme in addition to the territory’s rooftop solar generation and ACT purchases of GreenPower.

The ACT’s energy efficiency improvement scheme commenced on 1 January 2013 for an initial term of three years. From 1 July 2013 the scheme was expanded to small to medium enterprises, including private businesses and non-government community organisations. Over 24,000 households received energy efficiency saving help under the scheme up to March 2014. Of those households, 30 per cent were low income households, who stand to benefit the most from energy saving activities.

In September last year the Environment and Planning Directorate released survey research results of ACT residents showing that the majority of residents, 88 per cent, believe that climate change is a genuine problem for the future; 76 per cent of residents believe it is moderately or very urgent for the ACT government to take action to tackle climate change; and 81 per cent want the ACT government to take a

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