Eighteen proposals were received for the ACT’s first wind power auction and the Territory’s government has also recently given the nod to another solar farm.
It’s all happening in and around Canberra currently when it comes to large scale renewables. A reverse auction for 200 MW of wind power capacity ended last week, with more than more than 1000 MW of capacity in submissions received.
It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good it seems, in that Prime Minister Abbott’s renewables razor gang has brought a benefit to the ACT.
“The strong competition for the feed-in tariff is partly caused by the uncertainty created by the Commonwealth’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) review which has hindered other investment in the industry,” said ACT Environment Minister Simon Corbell.
“Wind is currently a buyer’s market and because of this the ACT can expect lower prices now than if the required investments were deferred to a later time.”
Expected to be operational in 2016, the 200 MW of wind power will provide nearly a quarter of the ACT’s electricity power needs in 2020; also contributing significantly to the Government’s 90% renewable energy target. The wind power boost will avoid the equivalent of about half the emissions associated with electricity usage in every Canberra household.
Big solar is also booming in the ACT. The Royalla Solar Farm was recently opened and Mugga Lane Solar Park (MLSP), touted as the largest agriculturally-integrate solar park in Australia, was given the nod last week.
MLSP will consist of more than 53,000 solar panels adding up to 13MW capacity. The facility will be developed in Tuggeranong at the intersection of Mugga Lane and the Monaro Highway. The solar farm will generate enough clean electricity to supply 3,250 households and will avoid 480,000 tonnes of carbon emissions over 25 years.
