Energy minister Stephen Robertson recently opened the Queensland Centre for Advanced Technology (QCAT) Innovation and Excellence Day. During his visit he commented that Queensland is achieving its renewable energy goals, and that the state government is delivering the vital factors to sustain growth in the state’s energy and water resources.
Minister Robertson also said the government is driving the technology forward through supportive measures, and assisting the industry not only to further develop the existing technology but also to produce skilled and professional workers through the aid of Skills Queensland. This was established by the Bligh government to identify and meet the needs of workers across the region, and is proving to be very valuable for this new and rapidly growing industry.
Robertson drew attention to the Solar Dawn project in North Qld, which will be the largest project of its kind, as the proof the state’s commitment to clean energy and its ultimate goal of carbon reduction.
Queensland’s vast renewable energy potential is yet to be fully unlocked, but projects like this are hoped to soon establish the region as the leading clean energy hub in the country, and a leading one in the world. Robertson also added that Queensland will continue to grow its energy resource sector.
The state has already spent over $37 million in financial assistance of exploration projects improving the current status of energy water resources.
The Queensland government has been surprised by the very enthusiastic response of Queenslanders to solarpower technology. In April of 2010 the state government set a target to increase the state’s solar power capacity by 100% within the next five years, however to their amazement the target has been reached in just 15 months.
The state’s capacity was escalated from 250 MW to 500 MW, which was including 141,000 households who installed solar panels in their roofs and 230,000 solar hot water systems. Currently 8% of Queensland’s energy needs are supplied by these systems, and the government is aiming for a 20% supply in 2020 along with the rest of Australia.
Queensland’s success in the renewable energy target is the largely the result of the government’s continuous and consistent efforts to encourage more and more households to install and embrace
The Qld Premium Feed in Tariff, even with a few recent changes in the eligibility factors, still offers one of the best financial rewards in the country, and provides a strong investment return for households with a mid-size solar panel system who are connected to it.
As well as encouraging households to make the switch to solar energy, the state government has also been very supportive of crucial role to be played by large scale solar applications, and multiple solar farms and solar power projects are in operation and planning across the state. Thanks to Queensland perfect climatic conditions for high solar output some of the largest renewable energy projects supported by the federal government will be established in Queensland in Chinchilla, Harvey Bay and Cloncurry over the next few years.
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