Origin maintains green energy dominance, snaps up low-price RECs
Macarthur Coal's mining emissions rise 13%
WA uranium panel not up to scratch: Conservation Council
Victoria boosts funding for five cleaner coal projects
Reform of Victorian Water Act 'urgently needed': EDO
Australian company wins $300 million Thai solar contract
Origin maintains green energy dominance, snaps up low-price RECs
Origin Energy continues to dominate the green energy market, with more than three times the number of customers of its closest competitor, according to its annual results released today.
The company has 396,000 GreenPower customers and 123,000 green gas customers.
Residential and commercial sales revenue from its solar business has doubled over the past year to more than $100 million, with managing director Grant King today telling journalists the solar business was "now starting to make a material contribution to results".
According to the results, the company has installed and commissioned two new gas-fired trigeneration plants (which provide electricity, cooling and heating) for customers and has secured energy supply agreements with property developers Mirvac and Cromwell for another two.
In addition to 30MW of existing wind generation capacity, and another 351MW contracted, It has 846MW in advanced planning and permitting stages, 1,200MW in the early stages of planning and permitting and another 1,314MW undergoing feasibility assessment.
King said the company had bought sufficient renewable energy certificates (REC) over the past year, when REC prices were low, to meet its liabilities under the Renewable Energy Target scheme in the short to medium term.
Origin is "comfortable that we've got our REC position covered for at least three years forward", he said.
Macarthur Coal's mining emissions rise 13%
In 2008-2009, Macarthur Coal identified potential emissions abatement projects and their likely cost and it has implemented "a number of these" in 2009-10, says today's annual report.
The company has developed an abatement strategy, a fugitive emissions strategy and an energy management policy and action plan, the report says.
Several energy efficiency projects are expected to reduce emissions by 2,000 tonnes a year and to cut the use of diesel fuel by 673,000 litres annually.
The report says the company has a carbon and environment committee that monitors climate change regulatory risks and reports material business risks to the board.
Macarthur Coal's direct greenhouse gas emissions during mining – largely in the form of methane – rose 13% in 2009-10 to 414,303 tonnes of CO2e, the report says.
Its emissions intensity rose 7% in 2009-10 in terms of CO2e per tonne of coal mined.
WA uranium panel not up to scratch: Conservation Council
An expert panel established by the WA State Government to advise on regulation of uranium mining (see related article) is not up to the task, according to Conservation Council WA director Piers Verstegen.
The expert panel members "have a lot of expertise" in dealing with on-site mine issues, but uranium mining raises concerns about transport risks, health risks to workers and communities and over a nuclear weapons proliferation, Verstegen told CE Daily.
"We need to have a much broader look at some of those risks before the community can have satisfaction that this is a safe and sustainable industry for Western Australia.
Verstegen added that it would be hard for the community to have "any comfort" about the capacity of the Department of Mines and Petroleum to regulate the uranium industry, given that its approach to regulating all forms of mining are "completely non-transparent and impenetrable to the community".
Victoria boosts funding for five cleaner coal projects
Five projects of nine projects already supported through Victoria's Energy Technology Innovation Strategy (ETIS http://new.dpi.vic.gov.au/energy/projects-research-and-development/energy-technology-innovation-strategy) will share an additional $1.6 million in funding provided through the State Government-backed Brown Coal Innovation Australia.
The five projects include a trial of pre-combustion CO2 capture technologies by the CO2CRC and HRL, the proponent of a proposed 600MW power plant in the Latrobe Valley that would be fuelled by dried and gasified coal.
Others comprise an HRL program to develop improved procedures for "advanced materials assessment, a Loy Yang Power project to research and pilot post-combustion capture technologies, and Monash University studies of brown coal gasification and of oxyfuel combustion of brown coal.
Reform of Victorian Water Act 'urgently needed': EDO
Reforms in 2005 of Victoria's Water Act that established a legally protected share of environmental water failed to adequately account for climate change, says a report by the Environmental Defenders' Office (EDO).
The EDO says that while the Environmental Water Reserve (EWR) improved the legal framework for the provision and protection of environmental water, "it is still of insufficient volume and not properly accounted for, and the majority of it is not a secure entitlement".
"Further reform of the Victorian Act is urgently needed to ensure that the EWR will maintain and restore ecosystems and river health into the future," the EDO says.
The report recommends amending the Act to provide for a legally binding ‘sustainable baseflow’ to ensure that there is enough water available to the environment.
It says the Act should also require public reporting of all environmental water that is included in the EWR and provide clear requirements of bulk entitlements and environmental entitlements.
"The Victorian Government should properly monitor compliance and be prepared to take enforcement action for any breaches," it says.
Australian company wins $300 million Thai solar contract
A subsidiary of Australian renewable energy company CBD Energy has won a contract to build a solar power plant in Thailand.
Eco-Kinetics has signed a contract covering design, construction and operation of the plant.
Located in Chonburi province, the first phase of the project will comprise 8MW, increasing to 99MW, with an overall value of more than $300 million.
Similarly to Australia, Thailand has a target of sourcing 20% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020, and it has a range of tax and investment incentives to attract investment in the sector.
