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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-25 Daily Xml
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DESALINATION PLANT

The Hon. M. PARNELL (14:54): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Urban Development and Planning, representing the Premier, a question about energy supply for the proposed Adelaide desalination plant.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M. PARNELL: On Monday, the Premier made a highly inaccurate claim about renewable energy powering the Kwinana desalination plant in Western Australia, which has significant implications for the Adelaide desalination plant.

The PRESIDENT: It also has a significant amount of opinion.

The Hon. M. PARNELL: Well, I will say that the Premier made a claim which I think members will later agree is inaccurate, and I will explain why. The Premier said:

We've obviously got 53 per cent of the nation's wind power and a number of organisations, including the government for instance, buys a certain percentage of its power from total green energy. At the moment it's 20 per cent, we're lifting it to 50 per cent. Then she'll be 100 per cent for the state government and what happens in Western Australia with their desal plant will happen in South Australia, is that the power used for the desal plant will come from sustainable energy…

The accompanying media release from the Premier included the statement that, 'It [meaning the Adelaide desal plant] will be powered using sustainable energy sources.'

I am keen to clarify exactly what the Premier means, because there is a huge difference between 100 per cent new renewable energy investment, which expands the total pool of available renewable energy in the state, and mere statements that we will use existing wind energy which is already in the South Australian grid and which has already been bought and is being used by others.

Many people believe, for example, that the Kwinana desal plant in Western Australia is powered by renewable energy, but that is completely false. In November 2007, the Western Australian Auditor-General released a report completely debunking that claim. Despite this, the former Western Australian Labor government and the Western Australia Water Corporation continued to spin the renewable energy line. Just recently, the ACCC formally instructed the corporation not to claim that the plant is carbon neutral or that it is powered by wind energy.

The reason the statement is false is that the Emu Downs wind farm in Western Australia, which supplies the electricity to the Kwinana plant, is owned by the Griffin coalmining group and a Queensland government agency called the Stanwell Corporation. When Griffin applied to build a new coal-fired power station near Collie, it offered its investment in the wind farm as an environmental offset to the coal project's ongoing greenhouse gas emissions. This was done through the purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs). The Queensland state government accepted that, thereby using up all Griffin's green credits in the wind farm. Once that happened, the electricity powering the desal plant was no more green than any other electricity in the grid. In other words, you cannot double dip and claim the renewable benefit of that electricity twice.

The PRESIDENT: Order! I remind the member that this is not a grievance or a second reading speech.

The Hon. M. PARNELL: No; I am finishing my explanation—

An honourable member interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: He has not got to the question yet; how do you know?

The Hon. M. PARNELL: Members would note the Premier's assertion that the government has made a commitment to purchase 50 per cent of its electricity as green power but that SA Water is not part of that commitment. My questions are:

1. What percentage of the electricity powering the Adelaide desalination plant will come from brand new, additional renewable energy?

2. Will either renewable energy certificates or 100 per cent accredited green power be purchased for all the electricity used to power the plant? If not, what percentage?

3. Have the government's renewable energy requirements been included in the tender specifications of the desalination plant?

4. Can the minister confirm that the Premier's claim that the desalination plant will be powered from wind power means that new, additional wind capacity equivalent to the electricity requirements of the plant, and purchased specifically for use by the plant, will be built in South Australia?

5. Will the government require the new wind energy to be available when the plant starts operating in December 2010?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (14:59): We know the Hon. Mark Parnell opposes the desalination plant. He also expects water to come from somewhere down to the Murray Lakes, even though the advice is that it is not there. He knows this state has far more wind-generated electricity than anywhere else in the country—

The Hon. M. Parnell interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: I mean, double-dipping. As I said, this state has far more installed solar and wind power than anywhere else in the country. Almost half of the installed capacity—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, why do we have half? If it is thanks to John Howard, why do we have half, and why do the other states not have it? That is a fair question. South Australia has eight per cent of the country's population but nearly 50 per cent of the nation's solar and wind power. The deputy leader says that it is due to John Howard. Was he diverting it all into South Australia? What caused that? I will leave it up to the deputy leader to answer that question. The fact is that this state has significant amounts of renewable energy, and we hope we will have a lot more through the development of geothermal.

There are a number of plans for the installation of further wind power, and I am sure the honourable member is well aware of those; or, of course, he could be part of the groups which back the Greens, who are opposing some of those installations. In some areas, there is opposition to desal plants and opposition to any forms of energy, including wind. That may well be the case but, in relation to those specific details, I will refer them to the Premier. The honourable member is opposed to the desal plant, and that is fair enough. He can go out there and hold public meetings and do everything he can, but the sort of tedious detail he is going into really is—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: The government accepts that the Hon. Mark Parnell does not want a desal plant and he will do everything he can to try to oppose it.

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