63-turbine windfarm for Tarago

Goulburn Post
Friday 10/11/2006 Page: 3

Mandatory renewable energy figure to rise to 15% by 2020

PLANNING approval for a new $220 million wind farm south of Tarago in the Southern Tablelands was announced yesterday. The 63-turbine Capital Wind Farm will generate enough electricity to provide power for 52,000 homes, eliminating 300,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases each year.

The wind farm is located 12km south-west of Tarago and east of Lake George. It is proposed for a ridge between Tarago and Bungendore.

The announcement, by NSW Premier Morris lemma, coincided with an increase in the Mandatory Renewable Energy Targets (MRET) for NSW, which he said would slash greenhouse gas emissions and provide a major boost to the renewable energy sector.

The new targets meant that by law, 10 per cent of electricity consumed in NSW by 2010 would have to come from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

'The mandatory figure will rise to 15 per cent by 2020;' he said. Current renewable energy use in NSW was 6.1 per cent. "The need to act on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions is clear," Mr lemma said.

"NSW has a proud track record of leading the nation in the climate change debate and we will continue to do so, we've achieved a lot but there is more work to do." "The cost to the average household of reaching a 15 per cent mandatory renewable target will be approximately $1 per week in the year 2020 but the cost of doing nothing is more frightening." Mr lemma said this initiative would send a strong signal to the renewable energy sector (wind, solar and biomass) that NSW was a place it could do business.

"Under this scheme, renewable generators will be able to create certificates for new generation," Mr lemma said.

"These certificates will be sold to electricity retailers which must surrender sufficient certificates to prove they have met the new targets." Retailers who do not reach the mandatory targets will face fines set at a level higher than the cost of purchasing renewable energy certificates in order to create an incentive to use renewable energy.