Doubts on wind Musselroe generator dismissed
The State Government yesterday denied that the $400 million Musselroe wind farm project would not proceed.
“The Government and Hydro Tasmania remains committed to the Musselroe project,” a spokesman for Energy Minister David Llewellyn said.
“Substantial preparatory works worth more than $30 million have already been undertaken.”
But Opposition energy spokesman Peter Gutwein said there had been a “go slow,” in terms of developing the massive site for some time with contractors not being paid enough to make ends meet.
“The Government must explain whether the Musselroe farm has stalled and will now not be built,” Mr Gutwein said.
“The Government needs to acknowledge the problems surrounding wind energy nationally.
“It needs to lobby the Federal Government as it did when John Howard was Prime Minister to shift the emphasis in renewable energy from solar.”
Mr Gutwein said the emphasis in the renewable market in Australia had become too focused on solar to the detriment of other energy forms.
The renewable energy credit scheme had experienced a glut of solar power so that there was no room for the take-up of other sources such as wind.
“The renewable energy credit situation currently doesn’t work,” he said.
This means that the business case for the Musselroe wind farm doesn’t stack up, Mr Gutwein said.
“I understand that the $400 million project is unable to reach financial close as a result of the financial model no longer stacking up due to the fall in the value of renewable energy certificates.”
Mr Gutwein said he was concerned about the Northern companies involved in the project.
“They deserve to know whether or not this project will be built,” he said.
Mr Llewellyn’s spokesman said the Government didn’t expect the current difficult market conditions to persist.
By Alison Andrews
The Examiner
23 November 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
Some possibly related stories:
The copyright of this article is owned by the author or publisher indicated. Its availability here constitutes a "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law as well as in similar "fair dealing" exceptions of the copyright laws of other nations, as part of National Wind Watch's effort to advance understanding of the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development. For more information, click here.
