RENEWABLE ENERGY

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (14:25): My question—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I have called the house to order, members on both sides. The member for Ashford has the call.

The Hon. S.W. KEY: My question is directed to the Premier. Can the Premier advise the house on the benefits for South Australia's renewable energy target following the decision by AGL to invest in a new wind farm at Hallett Hill?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:26): I acknowledge the honourable member's great commitment to renewable energy over all the years that I have known her, which is a long time. I am delighted with this question. I am very pleased to see that AGL has a new CEO, Michael Fraser, who has just taken over following the removal by that company of its previous CEO. We have a good relationship with Michael Fraser and we are looking forward to working with him. I was pleased to be able to meet with him shortly after his appointment in Sydney just a week or so ago.

On Monday 5 November, AGL announced that a 71 megawatt wind farm will be built at Hallett Hill, next to AGL's Brown Hill Ridge wind farm, which is already one of the biggest in Australia. I am advised that the proposed wind farm will require an investment of $166 million and create 150 jobs in the construction phase. I understand that it will increase AGL's wind energy investments in our state to 134 turbines, with a capacity of 257 megawatts, which will be the equivalent of powering 40,000 average Australian households and approximately 250,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year. This will mean that it will significantly contribute to South Australia meeting its legislated target of 20 per cent of energy generation coming from renewable sources by 2014.

You will remember that, because our commitment of 20 per cent of renewables by 2014 would put us in not only a national leadership position but in an international leadership position, a number of critics said that that could not be achieved. I am pleased to have worked in concert with the Minister for Energy on this. I have an announcement to make to the house. We were told that 20 per cent of our power coming from renewable energy was totally unachievable by 2014.

I am delighted to be able to inform the house that we will come close to or meet our target of 20 per cent of energy generation coming from renewable sources by June 2009—years ahead of schedule. This is five years ahead of the legislated schedule of 2014, which is enshrined in the Climate Change and Greenhouse Emissions Reduction Act 2007. I say thank you to the Minister for Energy, who shares my commitment to wind, solar and, indeed, lunar energy.

Twenty per cent of renewable energy generation is one of the highest market penetrations in the world, and would be by far the highest on mainland Australia. Achieving and maintaining this target will be a considerable challenge as South Australia's economy continues to grow with major defence and mining projects. This latest announcement by AGL is a reflection of the effectiveness of our policy framework that takes full advantage of our natural assets. It will be the 10^th wind farm to be constructed in South Australia. How many wind farms were there before this government was sworn in? Zero. Zip.

This was not because the technology did not exist. It has nothing to do with the lack of wind, because there is a lot of wind on the other side of parliament. The absence of wind farms from our state had more to do with uncertainty about regulatory mechanisms and the resulting business risk, so the government set about updating its regulatory framework. It prepared a discussion paper on the issue and amended the state Development Plan and, in so doing, made it clear that South Australia had a business-friendly approval process for wind farms.

Five years later—and now we have passed legislation, which is the first in Australia and one of the first in the world—the results of our regulatory changes are striking. From a standing start and with under 8 per cent of Australia's population, South Australia today has 47.5 per cent of Australia's wind power capacity. I am advised that South Australia has attracted an investment in wind farms totalling more than $1.7 billion.

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: The Leader of the Opposition said that it is all to do with the federal government's MRET system. In that case why is it not happening in the other states? The same system applies in every other state in Australia yet, with less than 8 per cent of the population of Australia, South Australia has almost 50 per cent of the solar power and almost 50 per cent of the wind power—and soon more than that. I cannot understand how there is wind and solar power in Victoria and Western Australia and the rest of Australia, but it is happening here with the same federal government system applying in every state. It is happening here because of leadership.

The Hon. J.D. Hill interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: New leadership, fresh leadership; a party with a plan, not a retirement plan. It is worth noting, too, that a similarly progressive attitude by the state government to geothermal (hot rock) energy has seen our state quickly snare more than 80 per cent of the geothermal activity either underway or proposed in Australia. AGL's announcement reinforces our reputation as an international leader in hosting and supporting renewable energy.

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: The Leader of the Opposition has just said that we should be putting money into hot rocks. Hang on a minute; 80 per cent of the activity is occurring in South Australia.

Ms Chapman: No thanks to you.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: No thanks to us! It is just amazing, but if it was not happening here it would be our fault. What was happening when members opposite were in power? Zip, zero.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: That's right. Their commitment to energy was to sell ETSA and spend $100 million on a group of consultants with a fistful of dollars.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: AGL's announcement reinforces our reputation as an international leader in hosting and supporting renewable energy. It is clear that the challenge on climate change has given our state an opportunity to sustain an international reputation in renewable energy. If you do not believe me, ask Al Gore; he made it very clear in his public statement. The decision of AGL is a further affirmation that the private sector is prepared to back up our policies with its investment dollars. I could speak at length about this today, but because of humility I have decided to end this reply to a question of which I would have liked more notice.