Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Energy spokesperson
The high levels of dirty energy Tasmania is importing this summer is putting our clean green brand in jeopardy. The latest figures from Hydro are that up to 50% of Tasmania’s power is now coming from Victorian coal-fired power stations.
At the moment Tasmania's energy security comes mostly from water stored in dams, but we’re a long way from being 100% secure.
Climate Futures for Tasmania have estimated the state will be drier in the future, with less water flowing into our catchments. This will continue to put pressure on us to buy power out of the state, unless we have a plan for expanding the renewable energy mix.
Tasmanians believe that when we turn on the light, it's clean power we are using. The level of brown coal power being imported would stagger most people.
The government is doing nothing to promote investment in any form of renewable energy. They need to step up, and invest in alternatives like solar and wind power, which are cost-effective in Tasmania.
This week in government business scrutiny the Minister for Infrastructure revealed his approach for Metro was to “wait and see” what happens elsewhere, rather than starting to plan for a renewable bus fleet.
The Minister for Energy told Tasmanians at GBEs that Aurora had no place in supporting their customers' renewable energy investments, and he has continued to keep the feed-in tariff low.
We can’t have a hands-off attitude to investment in the renewable industry. We need to be actively providing incentives for solar, wind and other renewables.