Page 4031 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 17 November 2015
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I am pleased to report to the Assembly that all three wind farms have reached financial close and all are under various stages of construction. The government is currently assessing proposals made in a second 200 megawatt wind auction that closed for proposals on 14 October this year.
The act requires that a review of each capacity release be undertaken within six months of the last grant of feed-in tariff entitlement. The act also requires the responsibility minister to present a copy of the review to the Assembly no later than six months after the end of the period for the undertaking of the review.
On 19 May this year the Environment and Planning Directorate engaged Jacobs Group (Australia) Pty Ltd to undertake the review. Its final report was delivered to the directorate on 30 July this year, within six months of the last grant of feed-in tariff entitlements under the capacity release that was made on 5 February this year.
The review includes a number of key findings and highlights the overall success of the first wind auction. In summary, the review found that the wind auction was successful in contributing to each of the objectives of the act. In particular, it found the wind auction further consolidated the ACT’s reputation as a hub for renewable energy. It found that the output of the auction’s successful proposals will abate around 11.7 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the voluntary surrender of large-scale generation certificates.
The wind auction process recognised and encouraged innovation and best practice in local community engagement. The review found that the treatment of Treasury financial guarantees was highly successful in enabling the government to compare and understand the risks and costs associated with various options, allowing it to select the most appropriate option.
Stakeholders to the review agreed that the wind auction allowed the government to procure wind energy at a highly competitive price. The review concluded that the government successfully leveraged the experience of the solar auction and built lessons learnt into the administration of the wind auction. Finally, the review found that the proposed evaluation framework was transparent and well received by proponents, but that the process could be further improved by clarifying requirements for non-Australian capital region components.
In summary, the review has found that the first wind auction conducted by the government was successful in incentivising the uptake of large-scale wind energy at highly competitive prices, which ultimately will result in less costs being passed through to ACT electricity consumers.
The first wind auction built on the experience of the solar auction held in 2012 and 2013 to deliver three high-quality wind projects that would not only deliver competitively priced renewable electricity but also produce major local investment benefits for the ACT, including the establishment of a new renewable energy skills centre of excellence at the CIT; two new global wind operations centres right here in Canberra; a new ANU course in wind development; and several new locally-based jobs that will focus on the management of three new wind farms.
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