Page 3042 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 23 September 2014
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So we can expect further reductions in future years. These are great outcomes for our city as we make the transition to a low-carbon future. Certainly, what we are seeing from those results and from this wind auction process is a coming together of a range of factors that are helping us to meet our targets for a more sustainable Canberra.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Ms Porter.
MS PORTER: Minister, could you explain further how this development of wind power will benefit Canberrans?
MR CORBELL: I thank Ms Porter for the supplementary. There are two key ways in which we will see benefits for Canberrans. The first is through economic development opportunity. The second, of course, is the environmental benefit in terms of lowering the carbon intensity of our electricity supply sector.
When it comes to the economic benefit, we know from assessments that have been done nationally that renewable energy projects create jobs. Wind farms typically employ one person for every four megawatts during operation, and many more during construction. Capital expenditure is around a million dollars per megawatt of generation constructed. So we expect to see immediate benefits in terms of jobs.
But we also expect to see longer term benefits for our community. As I said in my answer earlier, the government is very focused on making sure that these proponents demonstrate not just how they are going to build low-cost, large-scale renewable energy but how they are going to invest in our city? How are they going to invest, for example, in supporting research? With some of the great advanced research that we see at the ANU and the CSIRO, how are they going to, for example, support that. How are they going to support the local economy longer term by basing some of their operations or corporate functions here? How are they going to support local contractors and local businesses?
The second benefit, of course, is through low-cost renewable energy abatement. We know that these schemes are going to deliver significant abatement. When you look at 200 megawatts of wind energy, meeting the equivalent of one in two Canberrans’ electricity needs per annum, that is a significant step towards achieving abatement in greenhouse gas emissions for our city. (Time expired.)
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Lawder.
MS LAWDER: Minister, why have you invested so much in solar power, given that you were trumpeting that wind power is much cheaper than solar?
MR CORBELL: The government takes a balanced portfolio view to the shifts in renewable energy, and over 300 of the 490 megawatts that the government has allocated for large-scale renewable energy generation is proposed to go towards wind energy generation. But the government also made commitments in 2008 to support the development of large-scale solar, as did those opposite. Let us not forget their policy in 2008 to support a large-scale solar farm here in the ACT as well. It is in their policy documents from that election.
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