Posts filed under ‘renewable energy’
Wind to power Moreland Council’s electricity
Turbine blades for MREP Crowlands Wind Farm
Moreland Council is one of 14 organisations who have added their purchasing power together to support the development of a new wind farm to supply renewable energy for these organisations.
The 80MW Crowlands wind farm near Ararat, which will be owned and operated by energy company Pacific Hydro, will feature 39 turbines.
The consortium won the 2018 Premier’s sustainability award in the Government category. The Cooling Communities project was also listed as a finalist in the Environmental Justice category. Winners were announced on Thursday 11 October 2018 in Melbourne.
100 global solutions to Global warming: Paul Hawken on Drawdown
Paul Hawken on the long term CO2 trend
Paul Hawken explained the long term CO2 trend and the need for carbon Drawdown at a presentation event at Coburg Town Hall organised by CERES, MEFL and Moreland Council.
Hawken’s book on Drawdown explains the top 100 solutions to global warming and ranks them for their capacity and importance.
Food related solutions were 8 of the top 20 solutions with the need for a plant rich diet ranked as No 4.
Energy solutions were 5 of the top 20 solutions with onshore wind listed at No 2.
The work also shows the importance of programs tackling gender-based education inequalities with Educating girls at No 6 and Family Planning at No 7.
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Turnbull’s National Energy Guarantee policy prolongs coal hinders renewables
NEG compared. Courtesy: Environment Victoria
Malcolm Turnbull has rejected the Chief Scientist recommendation of a Clean Energy Target and given us a National Energy Guarantee in it’s place which will mostly focus on reliability and affordability with limited emissions reduction.
This policy is guaranteed to keep coal and gas playing a substantial role in electricity production and act to slow down the take up of renewables, batteries and other despatchable technologies such as pumped hydro and solar thermal.
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Hydrogen fuelled zero emissions garbage trucks for Moreland
Moreland Council has invested in changing it’s fleet of diesel garbage trucks to zero emissions, which will reduce heavy vehicle fleet carbon emissions, pollution, noise, and reduce fuel costs in the long term.
The plan is to use electric heavy vehicle garbage trucks powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The hydrogen will be generated by solar PV at the Hadfield depot, and by wind power purchased through the electricity grid, hence the hydrogen fuel cells will be renewables powered.
Moreland Council have entered into partnership with hydrogen technology company H2U and vehicle manufacturer CNH Industrial to deliver the pilot project. This pilot project is one of the first in the world using hydrogen fuel cells in a heavy vehicle fleet.
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Opposing the rule to charge solar owners a fee to feed-in to electricity grid
The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) is considering allowing a charge on solar owners for feeding their electricity back to the grid. We think this is grossly inequitable and very problematic for reducing emissions and continuing to encourage take up of solar renewable energy by households and businesses.
The following submission was made on the rule change:
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The Finkel Review: Not Just a CET – It’s Actually About Keeping the Lights on
On June 8, the much anticipated Finkel Review (Blueprint for the Future: Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market) was released. Much has already been written about the merits of the proposed emission reduction mechanism (a “Clean Energy Target”) and whether this would satisfy the Coalition, why it didn’t advocate a stronger emission reduction target, nor a swift end to coal.
But this was not the aim of the Finkel Review. It was about fixing up the National Electricity Market (NEM). The alternative to fixing the NEM may well be a return to public ownership and control. Although this could be a good thing, it is not on the governments’ agenda right now. Agreement on an emission reduction mechanism was regarded as an important step in getting new private sector investment, mainly in gas-fired power stations, so the market would operate as intended.
Modernising Australia’s electricity grid – CAM’s submission to inquiry
Climate Action Moreland has made a submission to the House of Representatives Inquiry into Modernising Australia’s electricity grid. It is reproduced below.
