ACT pays homes and businesses for Renewable Energy
ACT’s renewable energy feed-in tariff scheme for households and commercial buildings will start on March 1, Energy Minister Simon Corbell has confirmed, with renewables generators getting up to 50.05 cents per kWh, excluding GST. While the scheme will initially focus on solar and wind power, it can be expanded to include new technologies as they emerge he said.
The scheme will be rolled out in two stages. Under the first stage, the tariff is available to all ACT electricity customers, except non-educational government agencies, that have generation facilities “of no greater capacity than 30kW”, according to the scheme’s Details on how larger scale generation will be included within the scheme – stage two – are expected in June. The first stage would cover households and large commercial buildings such as shopping centres, office complexes and warehouses.
“Last year the ACT Government introduced the Electricity Feed-in (Renewable Energy Premium) Act. Today I am announcing a series of amendments to the act to clarify its operation and allow it to commence for households and commercial buildings on March 1 this year,” Corbell.
“You will be paid a price between three and four times higher than the average ACT retail price (excluding GST),” the scheme’s factsheet says. “From commencement of the scheme until 30 June 2010, this amount will be 50.05 cents per kWh generated for systems up to 10kW. For systems between 10kW and 30kW a rate of 40.04 cents per kWh will be paid. All ACT electricity bills will have a small amount added to cover the scheme’s costs.”
Schools and educational institutions, both public and private, are eligible to access the scheme. Renters can benefit if their property owner allows the installation of renewable generation equipment. The second stage, proposed to start on July 1, will allow for the introduction of the tariff for larger scale generation, after “a range of issues” are given consideration.
“The financial impact on ACT electricity consumers, the appropriate premium price percentage to apply to different scales of generation and the possible introduction of whole of scheme or annual augmentation limits all need to be considered,” the government said.
Corbell said the proposed scheme is focused on solar and wind technologies that develop renewable energy, but could be expanded to include new technologies as they emerge. Story sourced from www.EnvironmentalManagementNews.net.
I&I Comment: In the mid 1980s the I&I editor was involved with a pilot project that generated electricity from coal seam gas extracted ahead of mining. Much of the electricity was to be used by the mine itself but a big argument emerged as to why the electricity authority would only make a low payment for excess electricity. How times have changed! It will be interesting to see what the overall impact of this scheme will be on developing new supplies and competing technologies.
Alice Springs hosts Australia’s biggest solar roof?
SunPower has completed what it says is Australia’s largest roof-mounted solar system at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Alice Springs. The 305kW system is expected to provide 40-80% of the hotel’s power requirements, depending on the time of year.
Project owner Invest North funded the installation with the help of the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage, and Arts (DEWHA) through its Solar Cities Program. Sourced from www.EnvironmentalManagementNews.Net
Believe it or not? Converting CO2 into Fuel
Jon Evans of New Scientist reports that powered only by natural sunlight, an array of nanotubes is able to convert a mixture of carbon dioxide and water vapour into natural gas at unprecedented rates.
Such devices offer a new way to take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into fuel or other chemicals to cut the effect of fossil fuel emissions on global climate, says Craig Grimes from Pennsylvania State University, whose team came up with the device.
Although other research groups have developed methods for converting carbon dioxide into organic compounds like methane, often using titanium-dioxide nanoparticles as catalysts, they have needed ultraviolet light to power the reactions.
The researchers' breakthrough has been to develop a method that works with the wider range of visible frequencies within sunlight.
More from http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16621-sunpowered-device-converts-co2-into-fuel.html. With thanks to Glen Moore, Director of the Wollongong Science Centre and Planetarium http://sciencecentre.uow.edu.au.
Incandescent lights may go out in China
China is starting to outline a plan to phase out incandescent lighting in a bid to save energy, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua. The country, says its National Development and Reform Commission, is one of the top producers and consumers of lighting products in the world, producing a third of the world’s total, or 4.44 billion incandescent lamps, and exporting 2.98 billion of them.
“If we replace the incandescent lamps with energy efficient ones across the country, we would save 48 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per annum, which is equivalent to more than 60% of total electricity generated by the massive Three Gorges Dam each year,” said the NDRC’s Energy Saving and Environment Protection Department.
Water and fish from Coal Seam Gas Fields?
Coal seam gas (CSG) producer Arrow Energy is using a recently completed skid-mounted, relocatable desalination plant to provide irrigation water for crops being grown on one of its properties. The $1.5 million plant, sited on a property near Dalby, Queensland, is treating up to 1.5 megalitres of water extracted from surrounding Arrow CSG fields. The treated water is being used to raise sorghum as part of a trial.
Arrow expects the trial to be successful and aims to deploy reverse osmosis water treatment technology throughout its operations to demonstrate the company’s environmental credentials and help strengthen links with local communities, public relations manager Gareth Quinn said.
“Coal seam gas water has many beneficial uses,” he said. “We’ve identified around 15 initiatives for untreated and treated by-water. Untreated coal seam gas water is used as stock water by two local feedlots and is also used by a local coal mine to wash its coal. It is also being supplied to the Braemar 1 Power Station for fire-fighting and operational uses, and to the Braemar 2 plant, now being built, for construction purposes.”
More inventively, Arrow is working with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI) in a research project to investigate the viability of farming salt water fish in its CSG evaporation ponds. Arrow says 15,000 Mulloway fingerlings have been successfully raised over the past 18 months by the DPI in by-water water produced from Arrow's Kogan North project.
“There is no doubt that the potential for beneficial use of CSG by-water in the Surat Basin is enormous,” Quinn said. Irrigation farming – including cotton – is widespread in the Surat, and water is in short supply in the region’s largest city, Toowoomba.
With the state government now backing away from plans to add recycled sewage water to potable water reservoirs, CSG water could become an important part of the water security solution for some inland Queensland towns.
“Arrow Energy has contributed more than $5 million towards the upgrade of a desalination plant at Dalby to treat coal seam gas water from our nearby gas fields,” Quinn said. The company plans to supply around 5ML per day to the plant at no cost which will then be available to supplement the town water supply.” Story sourced from www.petroleumNews.net via www.EnvironmentalManagementNews.net
Looking for a new job?
What will make you stand out as a candidate? One hiring manager offers:
“I like people who take the time to respond to the specific wording and requirements of the listing. I guess about 10 percent to 15 percent of the applications are complete failures in that respect. I normally take that as a sign of the shotgun approach.
Even recruiters are occasionally guilty, but far less frequently than individual applicants. If the applicant gives the impression my company doesn’t deserve more than the shotgun approach, he or she shouldn’t expect any special consideration from me.”
Tip from American Society for Quality: www.asq.org
Event: Online Marketing for Small Business
This NSW Department of State and Regional Development Event is to be held at the Western Sydney Business Centre, North Parramatta on 11 March 2009, 8.30am to 10.30am
There is a lot of pressure on businesses to get value for money from marketing. Many are being encouraged to move to online marketing channels. This session with Kate Carruthers, aims to give an overview of important trends in online marketing from a business perspective. Also it will look at what works for websites and some of the expensive mistakes to avoid.
To register send an email to dsrdparramatta@business.nsw.gov.au with your contact details.
For more information contact Western Sydney Business Centre (telephone 02 8843 1100);
NSW Department of State and Regional Development, Level 2, 470 Church Street, North Parramatta NSW 2151. For future seminars go to: www.business.nsw.gov.au and click on Upcoming Events on right hand side of home page.
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