Victorian Premier, John Brumby, has announced a $30 million funding boost to support the development of alternative energy technologies.

Mr Brumby said that "The funding will be available for parties interested in developing pilot-scale demonstration projects or research and development proposals for sustainable energy technologies in areas such as solar, wave, geothermal and bio-energy. The results delivered from these grants will help us produce and operate the technologies we need to make renewable energy sources commercially viable."

The Premier also announced the establishment of an Office of Solar Energy which he said would would bring together under one umbrella the extensive work being done on solar energy in Victoria. 

Energy and Resources Minister, Peter Batchelor, also announced the appointment of a Medium Scale Solar Working Group, which will examine current barriers to investment and what additional measures are required to encourage the use of solar energy in Victoria.

The Working Group will be chaired by Tony Wood, Director of the Clean Energy Program of the William J Clinton Foundation, which was set up by former US President Bill Clinton to focus on worldwide issues such as climate change. Other members will include Ian Porter from the Alternative Technology Association, Mark Twidell from the Australian Solar Institute, Damon Moloney from the Green Buildings Council and Rod Menzies from the Clean Energy Council.

The government of the ACT has said that it will set a target of cutting greenhouse gas emission by 40% by 2020 and 80% by 2050, based on 1990 levels. The ACT will commit to carbon neutrality by 2060 and with peak per capita emissions by 2013.

The ACT government will also require regular reporting of emission trends to the ACT Legislative Assembly, establish of a Climate Change Council for advice on response to climate issues and encourage of voluntary action.

Simon Corbell, the ACT Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water said that "Governments have a responsibility to act on this issue, and the ACT Labor Government is leading Australia on reducing our carbon footprint by increasing the uptake of renewable energy and increasing energy efficiency in Canberra homes and businesses."

The Australian Academy of Science has published a 16-page booklet on "The Science of Climate Change: Questions and Answers" for the interested non-scientist.

The publication provides an authoritative, unbiased explanation of the current situation in climate science, including where there is consensus in the scientific community and where uncertainties exist. It answers the questions:

• What is climate change?
• How has the Earth’s climate changed in the distant past?
• How has the climate changed in the recent past?
• Are human activities causing climate change?
• How do we expect climate to evolve in the future?
• What are the consequences of climate change?
• How do we deal with uncertainty in science?

A copy of the booklet can be downloaded at www.science.org.au/reports/climatechange2010.pdf

Horizon Power has officially opened what it says is the world’s first "high=penetration" solar, diesel power station in the remote Pilbara towns of Marble Bar and Nullagine.

The project includes more than 2000 solar panels across both towns and incorporates solar tracking systems that follow the path of the sun in each town throughout the day. Diesel motors are used to generate electricity when there is insufficient solar power. It will provide 65% of the towns’ daytime electricity from solar power.

Flywheel technology allows energy generated from the solar panels to be stored and regulated in the short term, removing the need for a constant deisel backup generator. If the panels shut down because of cloud cover or any other reason, the flywheel provides 500 kilowatts of energy for about five minutes, which is enough time to start one of the diesel engines.

The system is classified as "high penetration" because it provides most of the towns’ electricity.

A 1,350 solar panel system is already in operation in Marble Bar and a 900 panel system in Nullagine is expected to be full operational by October.

CSIRO researchers  have identified sites along Australia’s southern coastline which make it one of the world’s most promising areas for the generation of wave energy.

The scientists say that just 10 per cent of the energy produced in waves near the shore along the southern coast would be enough to meet half of the country’s present-day electricity needs.

The Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research’s Dr Mark Hemer says that "there were a number of sites I guess that come out as being possible locations, Portland in western Victoria and Port McDonald in south-east South Australia, the west coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, Albany in Western Australia, or Geraldton, they’re all good locations with high energy."

Currently there is only about 4 megawatts of wave energy capacity installed globally, compared with 200,000 megawatts of wind energy capacity but as Dr Hemer  says "Australia has a massive resource in wave energy compared to other nations in the world, and we have a really good opportunity to make the most of that."

Associate Professor Chris Rissel, from Sydney University’s School of Public Health, has called for laws making the wearing of bike helmets compulsory to be repealed, to encourage more people to ride bikes. Professor Rissel says that the greatest drop in head injuries was in the 80s – before the laws were introduced – because of road safety campaigns and speed controls. He says the number of head injuries has remained steady since then.

The call to repeal the mandatory helmet laws follows the slow response to the public bike sharing scheme introduced in Melbourne in June. The scheme copied a Montreal programme in which the bikes have been used more than a million times since its introduction in May 2009. The Melbourne scheme is attracting only about 250 users a week although Melbourne has more than double the population of Montreal. Many believe that the poor response is due to Australia’s mandatory bike helmet laws.

Australia, New Zealand and Finland are the only countries in which bike helmets are mandatory for adults but in Finland there no penalty for not wearing a helmet. Israel and Mexico have repealed their bike helmet laws following difficulties with their public bike sharing schemes.

Bicycle New South Wales vice-president Richard Birdsey commented that "At the moment it’s important that we retain the law, but certainly once we see improved riding conditions for people, where the roads become safer, the governments should look at perhaps seeing whether they can be wound back a bit."

Keeping mandatory helmet laws on open roads but abolishng them in parks and designated cycleways would seem like a sensible way forward.

Melbourne Bike Share Station (image by Elekhh via Wikimedia)

The City of Sydney has called for tenders to install a network of trigeneration plants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs for city buildings and consumers.

The tender, which closes on January 28, 2011, is to supply trigeneration to the 200 City-owned buildings including five aquatic centres, the Town Hall precinct and Customs House.

The tender also allows for the establishment of a private or public/private energy services company to supply City owned buildings as well as non-City owned buildings. It follows a call for expressions of interest which attracted major national and international energy players.

This first phase of the project could see the installation of up to 25 megawatts of trigeneration capacity by 2015, with approximately 20 megawatts being added each year for the next 15 years to a total of at least 330 MW. The programme could be accelerated into precinct based trigeneration systems depending on the level of interest received from non-City building owners.

Trigeneration plants, typically the size of a shipping container, use natural or renewable gases to produce low carbon electricity. They capture waste heat from electricity generation and use it locally for the heating and cooling of buildings. They are nearly three times more energy efficient than a coal-fired power station.

AGL Energy Limited and Meridian Energy have entered contracts to construct a 420 megawatt wind farm at Macarthur in Victoria’s south west at a total capital cost of $1 billion. On completion in early 2013, the Macarthur Wind Farm will be the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere, and one of the largest wind farms in the world.

The wind farm will be situated near Hamilton, 260 kilometres west of Melbourne.

It will comprise 140 Vestas 3-megawatt wind turbine generators and will be constructed by Vestas and Leighton Contractors. AGL will acquire all of the wind farm’s energy output and renewable energy certificates.

The project was originally planned in 2008 for completion in 2011 but was put on hold in 2009, when AGL managing director Michael Fraser warned that the renewable energy industry was on the brink of collapse due to a lack of investor certainty about the government’s renewable energy target policy. After the passage of new renewable energy target legislation in June, it was announced that the project would go ahead.

The original plan was to install 174 Suzlon wind turbines but the contract now calls for 140 Vestas turbines. Mr Fraser commented that "As a result of utilising Vestas’s new 3.0 MW V112 turbines, we have been able to increase the capacity of the wind farm while reducing the number of towers from 174 to 140. This reduces the environmental footprint of the project and achieves substantial operating cost savings in excess of $30 million over the life of the wind farm.”

(Image: Vestas V112 Turbine from Vestas press release)

Atlantis Resources Corporation has unveiled the largest and most powerful tidal power turbine ever built. It is due for installation at a dedicated berth at the European Marine Energy Centre, located in Orkney, Scotland later this summer.

Atlantis Resources Corporation was founded in Singapore but developed its technology in Australia were it has been operating its own dedicated tidal power test facility in San Remo, Victoria, since 2006.

The test facility dispatches power directly to grid, giving Atlantis’ technical teams the opportunity to develop and test their turbines in a real world environment. Atlantis has had a Nereus turbine installed continuously for the past 12 months allowing R&D to be completed on control systems, grid connection software and hardware, material science, system health monitoring, remote monitoring, diagnostics and control, power train optimisation and resource analysis.

The AN-400 installed at San Remo, Victoria

Beyond Zero Emissions has officially launched its "Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan".

The is a detailed and costed blueprint for transitioning our stationary energy sector to 100% renewable energy in ten years. The technologies utilised in this plan, which are predominantly concentrated solar thermal with molten salt storage, are commercially available now.

To download the full 200-page Plan click here (8.4MB). For a 16-page synopsis of the Plan click here (2.2MB). Hard copies can be purchased from the Melbourne Energy Institute.

Several eminent scientists, including Professor Robin Batterham, President of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and formerly Chief Scientist of Australia, have attested to the technical feasibility of the plan.

Professor Batterham went on to say "With our natural advantage Australia can and should be positioning itself as a global renewable super power for future prosperity. This report will help shift the climate debate to focus on energy; security; affordability; export and of course opportunity. Beyond Zero Emissions offers a new and invigorating message that is much needed”