The ACT Government has set a goal of 90% of the Territory’s electricity being sourced from renewables by 2020.
The Government has also set the most ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets in Australia, committing to a goal of zero net emissions by 2060 and a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020.
An updated paper detailing the plans, Weathering the Change – ACT Climate Change Strategy 2007 – 2025, details 18 actions to be undertaken. Among them is an increased focus on renewables; including wind and solar power.
The plan states a major barrier to deployment of renewables in the ACT currently is a lack of publicly accessible information on the ability of the Territory’s electricity distribution network to cope with additional generation capacity. One the first steps needed in order for Canberra to attain its lofty goal is for the government to develop detailed mapping of these resources.
Under the plan, the Canberra of 2020 will host a variety of large renewables projects. Currently, over 1 gigawatt of wind power projects are in the assessment phase in the Territory.
Making a significant contribution to the target will be the recently announced 20MW Royalla FV Solar Farm, a facility that will consist of approximately 83,000 solar panels; and other similar projects are expected to be constructed between now and 2020.
Should Canberra reach its goal, the impact on carbon emissions will see a reduction of 1,471,000 tonnes of carbon equivalent in 2020.
Canberra already has a healthy show of solar in the form of home solar panel systems, with uptake being supported by a feed in tariff incentive. Owners of systems are paid the same rate as their electricity supply tariff for surplus power exported to the mains grid.
According to Energy Matters, a 4kW system installed in Canberra can generate electricity bill savings exceeding $1,000 a year.
The updated Weathering the Change – ACT Climate Change Strategy 2007 – 2025 paper can be viewed here (PDF).
