Home: Renewable Energy News: Friday 04 April, 2008

Renewable Energy News

FRIDAY 04 APRIL, 2008 |

Rudd says Australia can play a key role in global climate change

Australia can play a key diplomatic role in securing China’s participation in global climate change solutions, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said in his speech to US think tank the Brookings Institute. Rudd announced that his government would seek to engage China and other Asian nations in talks around climate change mitigation, together with the US. “The government intends to deploy what I’ve described as a creative middle power diplomacy, both globally and regionally,” Rudd said in his speech. “This means, for example, that you will see Australia being more active in global efforts to meet the challenges of climate change following our ratification of the Kyoto Protocol within a week of taking office,” he added. “China could also be encouraged to play a more high profile role in climate change negotiations,” he also said, adding that as a major economy and a major emitter, “China’s participation in efforts to find a solution to global action on climate change will be crucial as we negotiate the torturous Bali Roadmap to its conclusion in Copenhagen in late 2009”.

NSW wants feedback on emissions trading scheme

The New South Wales Government is seeking public feedback on issues regarding transition to a national ETS by 2010. Minister for Energy Ian Macdonald has released a consultation paper to help the government prepare an approach to transitioning its regional greenhouse gas reduction scheme (GGAS) to a federal-based national ETS. Operating since January 2003, the NSW GGAS has resulted in the abatement of some 60 mt of greenhouse gases, Macdonald said in the consultation paper. “The NSW Government strongly supports the implementation of a national emissions trading scheme and has for some time been calling for a national scheme. The NSW Government has already legislated to ensure that GGAS will end when a NETS commences, and has indicated that a clear transitional process will be put in place,” he said. The paper, a collaborative effort of government, industry and environmental groups, outlines several options for how the NSW Government could make the transition to adopting the NETS. It mentions several options for potential obstacles, such as timing and how accredited emissions abatement certificate providers should be treated under the new scheme. The closing date for public feedback on the NSW consultation paper is 28 April 2008.

Negotiators work on Kyoto protocol alternative

Negotiators from more than 160 countries have started work in Bangkok on a more detailed timetable for agreeing a global climate change deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. The 1200 delegates are expected to draw up a schedule for when to discuss the four “building blocks” of the future climate change regime, which were identified by the Bali climate summit last year. The future agreement must address emissions mitigation, adaptation to climate change, transfer of technology to developing countries and financing of these efforts, and ministers should adopt the deal at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in late 2009, according to the agreement reached at UN climate talks in Bali during December 2008. The UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer stressed time was short to negotiate a deal, as a draft future agreement would have to be completed “well before” the Copenhagen meeting. “This leaves us with around one and a half years – a very short time-frame within which to complete negotiations on one of the most complex international agreements that history has ever seen,” said de Boer. “But I am confident it can be done if the work is broken down into manageable, bite-sized chunks”. On the question of emissions reduction targets, de Boer said it would be interesting to know what base line year would be chosen, when global emissions should peak, and to determine where the world needs to be by mid-century. Although de Boer underlined that Parties would not discuss emissions reduction targets at the Bangkok talks, he said, “the toughest and most interesting question for me is by how much rich countries are willing to reduce their emissions by 2020”.

Sydney-based international law firm launches a CDM Rulebook

Sydney-based international law firm Baker & McKenzie’s Global Climate Change practice has officially launched a CDM Rulebook website, a comprehensive online database for the rules surrounding the CDM under the Kyoto Protocol. Under the CDM, companies from developed countries can undertake projects in developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and receive carbon credits for them, provided that the projects meet the stringent eligibility criteria set out in the CDM rules. These credits can then be used to meet country-level Kyoto targets and company-level targets under some national emissions trading schemes. “Despite the rapid evolution of the rules, and the range of capacity building measures to increase general awareness of, and familiarity with, the CDM rules, to date there has not been a comprehensive online legal CDM database of all the rules, which is publicly accessible, logically sequenced and easy to navigate and search,” Baker & McKenzie said in a statement. Baker & McKenzie developed the website with funding from eight donor organisations including the Australian Department of Climate Change, the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Swedish Energy Agency, the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank and the UNEP Risoe Center. The law firm said the text of the CDM Rulebook has been reviewed by the company’s advisory panel, comprised of representatives from designated national authorities, which are government-appointed panels who decide on the worthiness of CDM projects. Designated operational entities, who audit project blueprints and verify that emissions reductions have actually taken place, have also reviewed the rule book, together with regulators, lawyers and other market participants.

Carbon offset provider Carbon Conscious to list on ASX

Carbon offset provider Carbon Conscious is seeking to raise $8 million through listing on the Australian Stock Exchange in order to boost its generation of offset credits for use in the upcoming emissions trading scheme. The company has entered into various strategic relationships with farmers and rural land holders in Western Australia, and aims to generate greenhouse gas emission reduction credits through planting mallee eucalypt trees, which sequester carbon emissions. “There have been various announcements by the Australian Government and their advisors that would indicate forestry is favoured for inclusion in an Australian ETS although the definitive rules are still under development,” Carbon Conscious Director Dan Stevens said. “A significant advantage associated with forestry in an Australian context is the strength of our property laws which should alleviate concerns around permanency issues that are sometimes cited,” he added.

Russia 4th to connect to the UN carbon credit registry

Russia has become the fourth country to successfully connect to the UN carbon credit registry, effectively taking another step to trading carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol. Russia, alongside Japan, New Zealand and Switzerland, has connected its domestic carbon credit registry to the UN international transaction (ITL) log, according to a UN website. Based on UN rules, Russia is expected to receive eligibility in June and now only needs to receive approval before it can buy and sell either government carbon credits or UN-approved carbon credits from offset projects. Of all countries with emissions targets under the Kyoto Protocol, market participants expect Russia to supply the most carbon credits. Russia has a target to freeze emissions at 1990 levels, some 3.1 btCO2-e over the next five years.

Ferguson says coal relied on for forseeable future

“Despite the growth in renewables and nuclear power in the region, the reality is we will be reliant on coal, gas and other fossil fuels for the foreseeable future,” Federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson highlighted in his speech to a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Partnership Joint Task Force in Melbourne.

In his keynote address to the seven-nation forum, Ferguson noted that the Kyoto Protocol and the Asia-Pacific Partnership are complementary strategies. “One is based around binding targets and the other the development and adoption of the new environmentally friendly technologies and clean energy sources to help us reach those targets,” he says.

Ferguson also notes that although Japan is one of the larger users of nuclear power, its electricity sector continues to rely heavily on coal and natural gas. Korea, China and the US are examples of countries whose growth and sustainability would not be possible without coal-fired power stations, according to Ferguson.

Australia’s coal resources are so large that they could be significant in the global energy mix for several hundred years, says Ferguson, assuming the advent of successful clean coal technologies. And this is the reason he is driving the Australian Government’s $500 million National Clean Coal Initiative. “This very important investment will build on the billion dollar COAL21 fund that Australian coal producers have committed to clean coal technology,” he says.

The Government’s funding also includes $75 million for a National Clean Coal Research program, $50 million for a national carbon mapping and infrastructure plan, $50 million for a coal gasification research facility in Queensland, and $100 million for two post-combustion capture PCC demonstration plants in New South Wales and Victoria.

Wild weather cause power outages

Storms causing power outages in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania were caused by Cyclone Pancho, which rounded the south-western corner of Australia. It then blew out to sea before intensifying and causing mayhem across south-eastern Australia on Wednesday 2 April 2008. The Bureau of Meteorology’s severe weather expert Kevin Parkyn says the magnitude of the storms was unusual for the time of year. In Victoria, the State Emergency Service took at least 2200 calls by Wednesday evening, when 200,000 homes were left without power. Alinta representative Scott Parker says the damage to the network is unprecedented. “This remains our worst ever weather-related emergency. The volume of work is just unprecedented,” he said. In Tasmania, Aurora Energy crews worked to restore power to more than 36,000 homes across Hobart as the winds brought down power lines. About 5000 homes were also without power in the north and north-west of the state, according to the Hobart Mercury. In South Australia 28,000 residential and business customers were affected by the storm across metropolitan and regional SA.

Victoria launches new funding for renewable energy

The Victorian Government has announced a $72 million fund for large-scale sustainable energy projects at the opening of the Victorian Climate Change Summit. Premier John Brumby says the fund will go towards large-scale renewable energy projects across the state, such as solar energy, wave power, geothermal and biomass conversion. “Climate change is creating a climate of opportunity for Victoria and this government is taking action now to prepare our communities for the future,” says Brumby. He also says that the new fund will be used to help finance proposals for large-scale, renewable demonstration projects across the state. The new $72 million fund will form the next stage of the Energy Technology Innovation Strategy grants. ETIS funding has leveraged $250 million from the Commonwealth and $1.2 billion of co-investment, primarily from industry, in a range of brown coal, renewable and clean energy innovation projects. A $50 million contribution from the Victorian Government in the last ETIS round went towards the construction of a solar power station.

Wind industry disagreement at EU conference

Representatives from European Union governments, the electric utility industry, NGOs and the European Parliament have debated a proposal to provide priority access for renewable energy during a panel discussion at the European Wind Energy Conference in Brussels. Eurelectric secretary general Hans ten Berge says the EU should make clear who will receive priority access and who will not, among potential suppliers such as micro generators. MEP Claude Turmes responded that “integrating large-scale renewables into the grid isn't a technical problem. It's a political problem. Fluctuations within the grid are something grid owners can cope with”. Turmes says that in the past costs for grid expansion were not paid for by new power generators such as the owners of nuclear and coal plants. The UK is already taking action on planning and grid access, says UK Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform director of renewables deployment Duarte Figueira. He says renewables generators should be able to access the grid in a reasonable amount of time and at a reasonable price. The department is examining an array of issues on priority access, according to Figueira. “We shouldn't chose technologies for priority access as long as markets work,” says European Wind Energy Association chief executive officer Christian Kjaer. “That’s why unbundling is extremely important. Until we have full ownership unbundling, we need priority access for renewables to have a level playing field,” he says.

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