Hosted and supported by the City of Sydney

Thursday 12 August

6-7.45pm

Sydney Town Hall, 483 George St, Sydney

Featuring:

Hon. Bob Carr - Former NSW Premier

Hon. Malcolm Turnbull - Federal MP for Wentworth

Senator Scott Ludlam - Federal Senator WA

Matthew Wright - Executive Director Beyond Zero Emissions

Allan Jones MBE - Chief Development Officer, Energy & Climate Change, City of Sydney


MC - Quentin Dempster - journalist and broadcaster

Free Entry

You are invited to attend the Sydney launch of the Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan.

This cutting-edge plan, the culmination of over 12 months and thousands of hours of pro bono work by engineers, scientists and postgraduate students, is a collaboration between the climate solutions think tank Beyond Zero Emissions, and the University of Melbourne Energy Institute.

This plan is unique in Australia. It is a detailed and costed blueprint for transitioning our stationary energy sector to 100% renewable energy in ten years. The technologies utilised in this plan are commercially available now.

This free public event will cover the details of the plan as well as the state of renewable energy in Australia more broadly. A panel discussion with technical experts will follow the presentations.

Don't miss out!

If you would like to take a look at the report or synopsis they are available here:
Synopsis 16 pages:
http://media.beyondzeroemissions.org/ZCA2020_Stationary_Energy_Synopsis_v1.pdf

Full Report 200 pages:
http://beyondzeroemissions.org/zero-carbon-australia-stationary-energy-plan-available-now-download-or-purchase-your-copy

For further information contact

Dr. Adam Lucas
Sydney Convenor
Beyond Zero Emissions
0411 199 213
http://beyondzeroemissions.org/

To download the full Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan click here (8.4MB).

For the Synopsis of the plan click here (2.2MB)

Hard copies can be purchased from the Melbourne Energy Institute.

Live Video of the University Launch 14/7/2010 available here

Don't miss out on this cutting-edge research, which shows how Australia can reach 100% renewable energy within a decade, using technology that is commercially available right now.

 

"With our natural advantage Australia can and should be positioning itself as a global renewable super power for future prosperity. This report will help shift the climate debate to focus on energy; security; affordability; export and of course opportunity. Beyond Zero Emissions offers a new and invigorating message that is much needed”
Professor Robin Batterham,
President, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering,
formerly Chief Scientist of Australia

“This is an ambitious, technically feasible plan that should be looked at seriously”
Tim Flannery
Professor Faculty of Science
Macquarie University
Australian of the Year 2007

"No doubt improved technologies for tapping usable energy from the sun, the winds, the tides, and the hot core of our planet will emerge as time goes by. But this report shows clearly that the solutions available now are, with our small population and enormous landmass, sufficient for Australia to move forward very quickly to tap renewable energy sources and minimize greenhouse gas emissions. We have the resources. We need the will.
Dr. Peter Doherty, Nobel Laureate, School of Medicine, University of Melbourne

 

"100 % renewable energy with zero emissions is achievable in Australia in about a decade if politics takes concerted actions…Moreover, Australia can become the initiator for a serious attempt to shift the world to a solar economy. This is the only promising strategy for climate protection and would provide societies around the world with solutions for climate protection, economic development, poverty reduction and conflict resolution. We need action now!"
Hans-Josef Fell, Member of the German Parliament
Alliance 90/The Greens Spokesman for Energy

 

"To achieve a safe climate future we need an urgent, large-scale transition. The work of Beyond Zero Emissions shows that the technical transition is affordable and achievable. Now we need a social and political transition to get behind it."
Professor Carmen Lawrence,
School of Psychology,
University of Western Australia
Former Premier of Western Australia.

“Renewable energy is the only way to go in the future. Enercon wind energy converters are designed to the newest standards to integrate with the modern high flexibility demands of electricity grids, providing sustainable reliable power to keep the wheels of daily life, household and industry turning. The Zero Carbon Plan outlines a technically achievable plan for generating all of Australias energy from the wind and the sun. It can be a realistic goal if Australia gets immediately seriously committed with decision making from industry and government. We hope that its recommendations are taken up so that Australia can also be a player in the renewable energy economy that is already booming around the world.”
ENERCON GmbH

"As the IEA has shown in its research, solar energy is now a serious global player for providing the world's energy.  Australia has one of the world's best solar energy resource, especially suited for concentrating solar thermal power plants, which can dispatch electricity when it is needed. The Zero Carbon Australia Plan is based on up-to-date and sound information and provides quality insights on how a country well-endowed in renewable resources can transition to a solar and wind economy.
Cédric Philibert
Renewable Energy Division
International Energy Agency

"The Zero Carbon Australia 2020 plan shows that it is technically feasible and affordable to replace all fossil fuel electricity with 100% renewable energy given the willpower and commitment to do so. This is a cutting-edge science-based plan that should be read by every energy decision maker and politician in Australia."
Mark Z. Jacobson
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Professor by Courtesy of Energy Resources Engineering
Director, Atmosphere/Energy Program
Stanford University, USA

 

“It's not the five per cent cut project or the 20 per cent cut project with a bunch of unachievable caveats. It's a zero carbon project and I think people actually want to be told a narrative, a story which is ambitious, which is aspirational, but also practical and I think that is what this project is about.”
Federal Independent Senator Nick Xenophon

 

"This is a bold and ground-breaking piece of work which should be a wake-up call to all those in government and industry who refuse to see beyond coal”

“This is a very exciting report. It has academic rigour, it has also the hope of a generation and it has thousands of jobs waiting to happen.”
"We can and must aim to power Australia with 100% renewable energy as soon as possible if we are to truly tackle the climate crisis - and the great news is, that will bring huge benefits to us all, cleaning the air and creating jobs and investment from the suburbs to the farmlands.”

"This Zero Carbon Australia plan is an extremely valuable contribution which all in the parliament should be looking at very seriously”
Federal Greens Senator Christine Milne

"Every nation in the world should make a plan like this.  If one can get a 100% renewable, zero carbon electricity system by investing 3% of GDP (and 10% of gross investment) for ten years, there is no good reason not to do it. Except, maybe, the straitjacket of old ways of thinking and doing.

This plan lays out a high solar-wind renewable future and then does more.  It looks carefully at the materials requirements of such a future, an aspect of the matter too often left unaddressed.

Australia could be the first large economy to show the way."
John O. Blackburn
Professor Emeritus of Economics
Duke University, USA


"Australians are capable of rapid change when the historical circumstances call for it. Indeed, we pride ourselves on being a resourceful people. TheBeyond Zero Emissions team show how inventive and resourceful we can be. Their plan for a transition to 100% renewables is a powerful and cogent response to those who claim it can't be done. The reception this report receives will be a sign of how much Australians believe in their future and how much they take refuge in the thinking of the past."
Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics and author of Requiem for a Species

 

“For decades, those opposing the transition to clean energy have claimed that it is not technically feasible. This report puts that argument convincingly to bed. There is no longer an excuse for inaction. Starting the transition now is our responsibility to future generations.”
Professor Ian Lowe
President of the Australian Conservation Foundation
Emeritus Professor Griffith University

 

"The Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan is a provocative and timely contribution to the climate change debate, and it deserves attention both here and abroad. The Plan demolishes a pile of conventional wisdom that Australian policymakers still seem unable to get past. The sorry history of Australian climate policy procrastination is littered with polluter-friendly analyses conducted by economic hired guns. Their work has been used to argue against action, or for illusory schemes that price carbon without reducing the greenhouse pollution billowing from Australian smokestacks and tailpipes. The effect has been to constrain debate and obscure from our view a very different vision—a rapid switch from fossil to renewable energy that makes economic and environmental sense.  By highlighting one of many pathways to achieving that vision, the ZCA report sheds light where it is desperately needed."
Dr Guy Pearse
Research Fellow, Global Change Institute
University of Queensland
Author of High & Dry and Quarry Vision

 

"It is difficult to imagine the Zero Carbon Australia plan being adopted in the context of Australia's current political and commercial culture and power cost structure. However, as an examination of the technical feasibility of achieving its goals as it seeks to shift this culture, it offers an interesting challenge for the imagination of policymakers and power suppliers feeling their way in to an uncertain future."
Keith Orchison
Coolibah Pty Ltd
Former Managing Director
Electricity Supply Association of Australia

 

”The ZCA report analyses one particular scenario of renewable energy technology choice based on available solutions, in considerable depth. It successfully shows in detail that 100% renewable energy is both technically possible and economically affordable. Clearly other renewable energy technology scenarios are also possible, that only serves to strengthen the overall conclusion about viability. The group is to be congratulated for their efforts."
Associate Professor Keith Lovegrove
Leader High Temperature Solar Thermal Group
Australian National University

 

“The chips are down - there is no longer any doubt about our need to rapidly transition to a zero emission economy.  The fate of Australia and the world depend on it.  The Zero Carbon Australia strategy being launched by Beyond Zero Emissions provides the roadmap to the solutions. Let's hope it is adopted by responsible governments everywhere.”
Professor Ove Hoegh-Goldberg, Director, Global Change Institute, The University of Queensland

"Wind Power is now a serious player in international energy. Installing 8000 megawatt-class turbines along with smaller wind turbines and other renewables where appropriate is achievable at a price the community can afford. Direct drive turbines such as the Enercon turbines are very suitable for a modern electricity grid where wind will be relied upon for a large proportion of overall electricity demand."
David Wood
Enmax/Schulich Professor of Renewable Energy
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
University of Calgary, Canada


“Climate change is a huge threat facing Australia and the world today.  We need action now if we are to secure a future for generations to come.  The Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan demonstrates that Australia can eliminate greenhouse emissions from the stationary energy sector within a decade – using technology that is commercially available today, and at an acceptable cost. We can’t afford to ignore it.”
Dr David Skellern
CEO NICTA (National ICT Australia)


"The release of Zero Carbon Australia could not be more timely. It will force reconsideration of government policy that, following the change in leadership, appears to be retreating still further from any meaningful commitment to a low-carbon economy.  The report is unambiguous in demonstrating that a low-carbon economy is within our technical capacity and that this it is more than economically feasible.  The challenge is now that of engaging the political will and bringing this sustainable future to fruition."
Dr Stuart Rosewarne
Chair of the Department of Political Economy
University of Sydney


"I get to work with people all over the world in the fight against global warming, a fight growing increasingly desperate as temperatures climb and rainfall patterns shift. Since Australia leads the world in per capita emissions, it makes sense that its transition planners would be thinking big. This transition obviously won't be easy or simple or cost-free, but given the alternatives it's very nice to know it's technically feasible!"
Bill McKibben
Scholar in residence at Middlebury College, Author and Founder 350.org


“I strongly endorse the broad concept of such a solar and wind plan and applaud the work of the University of Melbourne and Beyond Zero Emissions.  Our own work underway to calculate the feasibility of a 100% solar - wind plan for the United States has so far had the aim of  testing technical feasibility, and the match seems to be 99-100%. We have considered the biomass backup options as well for CST plants but increased thermal storage also seems to work for a 100% solar - wind system for the USA. I have some differences in the discussion of CST technology used as an example, but the study is at an initial stage. The advent of such a comprehensive study in Australia will assist recognition of our own work directed to the USA case, and speed the market development of the CST and wind technologies to supply economical solar energy both day and night."
Dr David Mills
Founder and past CEO of Solar Thermal power company Ausra

“From the other side of the globe Protermosolar fully shares the vision of the realistic and feasible Zero Carbon Australian Plan. Spain is currently the country with the most intensive deployment of CST (concentrating solar thermal) plants and their contribution to the grid stability and to the dispatchability of power supply has been fully demonstrated. Molten salt storage systems have been implemented in many Spanish plants providing predictable and reliable operation after sunset. Thus CST technologies could be considered as a real alternative to cover even the base load requirements of the electricity system.

“Australia must profit from its high solar resource, the sooner the better. An effective boost to CST and to the other renewable technologies - as presented in this plan – will not only go in the right direction in terms of the transition to a new energy mix but it will also result an excellent business for the Australian economy.”
Dr. Luis Crespo
General-Secretary
Protermosolar
Spanish Association of CST Industries


"This is exactly the type of initiative that we, the solar power industry, needs to propel our technology into the energy markets of Australia.  SolarReserve's concentrated solar power towers with molten salt storage are the most reliable, stable form of clean, renewable energy, which is exactly what's needed to achieve the safe climate future proposed in BZE's Zero Carbon Australia roadmap.  

"SolarReserve's solar thermal technology with molten salt storage; proven at Solar Two, the US Department of Energy's 10 MW pilot plant that operated for over 3 years in the 1990's, will not only aid in meeting Australia's renewable energy and carbon reduction objectives, but also have significant economic benefits, bringing green jobs and cutting edge technology.

Solar Reserve is willing, ready and able to deploy our molten salt power towers and fully supports the Zero Carbon Australia project."
Tom Georgis
Vice President
SOLARRESERVE

"The management of BrightSource Energy have had a long and extensive involvement in the solar thermal industry.  At BrightSource's predecessor, Luz, they designed, developed, built and operated the nine SEGS parabolic trough plants in California that still operate today.  Built in the 1980's, these plants were the best that could be built with the available technology at the time and certainly proved beyond any doubt that one could capture the sun's energy and convert it into steam for large scale electricity generation on a scale never before contemplated.

But, there were limits to this technology which resulted in low efficiencies and capacity factors, and high capital costs.  Our team at BrightSource has now completely re-engineered the whole approach to solar thermal, utilising a centralised tower to effect a direct solar to steam design.  By using flat glass mirrors that track the sun all day and through the seasons, our tower plants generate steam at 550 degrees C and higher, allowing us to use standard Rankine cycle generation power blocks that are dry cooled.  With far greater efficiencies, higher capacity factors, lower capital costs and the ability to operate the plant in hybrid mode and/or with storage, the BrightSource Luz Power Tower is the proven technology of today and well into the future for delivering firm, renewable power.

I certainly encourage and endorse the need for a holistic plan being developed for our generation portfolio in Australia going forward - one that properly takes into consideration our targets and desire to substantially increase the proportion of renewable generation capacity.  The plan requires careful consideration of our "as is" situation, the desired "to be" at future dates such as 2020 and beyond and a migration plan that will transform our generation portfolio over time to meet our renewable targets and achieve security of supply.  Solar thermal power, as a firm, dispatchable power generation source, will be an integral and significant component of this plan and its deployment.

Andrew Dyer
Director
BrightSource Energy Australia 

“Beyond Zero Emissions have been in my building, Kindness House, for five years. The dedication of this remarkable team of individuals is astonishing. Most of all, I am impressed by their relentless pursuit of the truth, wherever it may lead. They have built their strategies cautiously, never letting the enthusiasm distract them from the goal of getting the right answers by asking the right questions.

”They are a welcoming organization, drawing experts from a variety of disciplines, methodically searching for practical solutions to the challenges of reducing our massive carbon footprint. I am personally delighted to see the tens of thousands of hours they have invested in this important project, never once complaining about the lack of financial resources at their disposal. They have focussed their attention heavily on the carbon costs of stationary power, transport and building. I look forward to the time when they devote their formidable intellect and energy to the Livestock industry, where so much of our carbon share is squandered and emissions ignored.

”Beyond Zero Emissions is one organization I am proud to say I helped to incubate.

”I urge every serious institution to listen to them attentively. These are serious people for serious times.”
Philip Wollen OAM
Australian of the Year Victoria 2007


“As a company involved in the development of solar plants all over the world, at Torresol Energy we encourage the Zero Carbon Australian Plan that sets the action lines for a future with clean, renewable energy.

“Australia is one of the areas with better solar radiation and forms part of the international ‘sun belt’. Besides, the country has excellent conditions for profiting from that solar radiation: large low-populated areas to build the plants and an industry that can support the technological development in the solar generation sector. In that sense, each of Torresol Energy’s new projects introduces technologically advanced improvements to make Concentrated Solar Energy a manageable, economically competitive option and a real, viable, ecological and
sustainable alternative to traditional energy sources.

“Torresol Energy has three plants currently under construction. Among them, Gemasolar, with an innovative technology of central tower with molten salt receiver and thermal storage system, is the first commercial plant in the world of its kind. Due to this, the project has achieved considerable importance in the field of renewable energies as it opens the path to a new solar thermal power generation. Today, all of the analyses that have been carried out either by ourselves or by major international institutions show that tower plants with thermal storage is the type of technology that will be capable of generating reliable, manageable and renewable energy at the lowest costs. Therefore Australia could adapt this kind of technology in its renewable energy development plan that will allow the country to conserve the environment for future generations with a reliable energy source through utility scale baseload CSP plants."
Santiago Arias
Chief Infrastructure Officer.
Torresol Energy

“That Australia enjoys an abundance of renewable energy resources is beyond question. The Zero Carbon Australia 2020 plan demonstrates that it is both technically feasible and economically affordable for Australia to realise the benefit of these resources and transition to a 100% renewable energy future. Australian politicians and decision makers with the vision and commitment to embrace this new path have the opportunity to play an important role in leading Australia to a sustainable low carbon future.”
Sharon Mascher
Associate Professor
Centre for Mining, Energy and Resources Law
University of Western Australia

 

The 16 page Synopsis of the plan is available here. The full plan will be released on 14 July at the Melbourne Energy Institute, and available for download in the morning of the 14th. For information on the Melbourne event click here.

Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan Parliamentary Launch from beyondzeroemissions on Vimeo.

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By Pablo Brait and Leigh Ewbank

In April, the Rudd Government abandoned the severely flawed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, the centrepiece of its national climate policy agenda.

After two defeats in the Senate, and unwilling to risk a double dissolution election on the issue, Labor backflipped and deferred its plan to establish a domestic emissions-trading scheme to 2013. At a time when decisive action is needed to avoid dangerous climate change our national climate policy is at a standstill.

Australia desperately needs a new approach. We need a policy agenda that acknowledges the urgency of the situation and accepts the requirement of evidence-based emissions cuts identified by climate science. We need a circuit breaker to reinvigorate the debate and spur action.

Today at Parliament House in Canberra, Beyond Zero Emissions will outline such an approach with the launch the Zero Carbon Australia - Stationary Energy report—a detailed blueprint for transitioning Australia's stationary energy sector to 100 per cent renewable sources by 2020. The report, published in collaboration with the University of Melbourne Energy Institute, is set to spark a debate about Australia's energy present and future, and more broadly, what constitutes credible climate policy.

The Zero Carbon Australia (ZCA) report is the culmination of 12 months of pro bono work by engineers, scientists and postgraduate university students, performing the research that no Australian government has been prepared to undertake. The result is a truly innovative collaboration the likes of which has never been seen before in Australia. It is a true failure of leadership that our elected representatives have not developed a comprehensive transition plan for the energy sector even though it is at the heart of climate change mitigation efforts. Instead it has been left to a group of concerned citizens to pick up the slack.

Is it possible for Australia to power its homes, office buildings, and factories without adversely affecting our climate? The answer is yes.

The ZCA plan presents a carefully considered analysis of the energy technologies, industrial capacity, and investment required to repower Australia. The report shows that Australia can replace fossil-fuel baseload electricity using commercially available renewable energy technology, with the additional investment required equal to about one cup of coffee per person per day over the ten year transition. Our researchers have found that a 60/40 mix of concentrated solar thermal power and large-scale wind developments combined with an upgraded grid and comprehensive energy efficiency measures can reliably supply Australia's electricity needs.

Concentrated solar thermal power is the crucial renewable energy technology that will help Australia transition. Power stations are really glorified kettles. You need an energy source to boil water, so the steam can turn a turbine. Coal-fired power stations do this by burning coal. Nuclear power stations use nuclear fission. Solar thermal power stations concentrate the sun's rays and store this energy as heat, to be used for boiling water day or night. Torresol Energy's Gemasolar plant under construction in Spain will deliver power 24 hours a day with the same baseload production characteristics as a conventional coal plant. Next time you hear someone say that the sun doesn't shine at night, tell them it doesn't matter.

Australia is a sun soaked continent, yet the great potential to power our economy from solar sources is unrealised. It should shock Australians that there is currently no operating baseload solar power anywhere in our wide brown land. Even though Australia has the best solar resources of any developed country, it is Spain who has 800 Megawatts equivalent of operating solar thermal plants and $20 billion worth of projects in the pipeline to 2013. In the 1980s Australia was at the forefront of solar technology. With intelligent climate and energy policy we can regain our leadership position, create good jobs and reduce our contributions to climate change.

The ZCA plan represents a radical shift from previous policy efforts that focus on pricing carbon 'pollution.' In contrast, the ZCA plan emphasises the rapid deployment of renewable energy technologies and the development of a 21st Century grid infrastructure. The litmus test for credible climate policy will be whether or not it encourages the rapid deployment of renewable energy in Australia, not simply impose a price on carbon and hope for the best. Unlike emissions-trading schemes with offset provisions that delay action on renewable energy, the ZCA plan shows that we can start work today. The faster we build renewable energy capacity in Australian the faster the prices will fall, helping to make clean energy competitive with coal.

It's time for the Australian parliament to implement policies to repower our economy with 100 per cent renewable energy by 2020. The findings of the ZCA plan show that there are no technical or economic barriers to a repowered Australia. The major barriers are now political. The Australian public needs to get behind this vision and Australian governments at all levels must shake off the vested interests in the fossil fuel lobby and make this a priority.

Pablo Brait is Director of Strategic Planning and Leigh Ewbank is Director of Public Policy at Beyond Zero Emissions.

Source: 

The Drum

MELBOURNE – On Tuesday June 22, climate change solutions research group Beyond Zero Emissions will launch the Zero Carbon Australia - Stationary Energy report at the Australian Parliament in Canberra. 

Senators Christine Milne (Greens), Judith Troeth (Liberal), and Nick Xenophon (Independent) will host the launch, and will be joined by:

• Matthew Wright, Beyond Zero Emissions Executive Director 
• Professor Mike Sandiford, Melbourne University Energy Institute
• Tom Long, Australian actor (SeaChange, Two Hands) and Beyond Zero Emissions volunteer. 

The Zero Carbon Australia report provides a detailed blueprint for transitioning Australia’s stationary energy sector to 100% renewable energy sources by 2020. The report shows that Australia can replace fossil fuel baseload electricity using renewable energy technology that is available today, with the additional investment required equal to about one cup of coffee per person per day. 

 

The Zero Carbon Australia report is the culmination of 12 months of pro bono work by engineers and postgraduate university students, and testament to the quality of the plan, it will be published by the University of Melbourne 's Energy Institute next month. 

 

The report’s findings blow the arguments for delaying climate action out of the water, and they are certain to spark debate about Australia’s energy present and future.

 

“In the lead up to the Federal budget last month, a broad coalition of Australians called for the Rudd government to take an ambitious nation-building approach to climate policy. The Zero Carbon Australia 2020 plan is what that approach looks like,” says Matthew Wright, Beyond Zero Emissions Executive Director.

 

“Australia needs a nation-building climate change project with the scale and vision of a Snowy Mountains Scheme for the 21st Century. This approach can win the hearts and minds of Australians and put us on track to restore a safe climate,” says Matthew Wright.

 

“It’s time for the Australian parliament to a implement a climate and energy policy agenda to repower our economy with 100% renewable energy by 2020. Concentrated solar thermal technology is capable of generating renewable electricity 24 hours a day and credible climate and energy policy will encourage the rapid deployment of the technology in Australia. This should be a priority for Australian governments,” says Wright. 

 

“There is a critical need for policies to ensure the construction of large-scale renewable energy projects and climate-friendly infrastructure. These projects are the best way to secure Australia’s energy future and protect the nation from dangerous climate change,” says Wright.

 

Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne, said: “We can and must aim to power Australia with 100% renewable energy as soon as possible if we are to truly tackle the climate crisis. This Zero Carbon Australia plan is an extremely valuable contribution which all in the parliament should be looking at very seriously, particularly as we are currently debating renewable energy legislation in the Senate.”

 

For further information or comment, contact Matthew Wright, Executive Director of Beyond Zero Emissions

 

Paul Fleckney blogging for Beyond Zero Emissions.


Last week, a consortium of leading energy companies announced it would build the Middle East’s largest concentrating solar thermal (CST) plant. Spanish construction giant Abengoa, French oil group Total, and domestic renewable energy company MASDAR will partner to deliver the Shams 1 project in the desert outside Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Shams (Arabic for sun) 1 will provide 100-125 MW of solar capacity by 2012 and contribute towards Abu Dhabi’s target of 7% renewable energy by 2020. The plant will house over 750 parabolic trough collectors and generate enough electricity to power 62,000 homes. The scale of Shams 1 is globally significant and is exceeded only by Solar Reserve’s planned 150MW ‘utility-scale’ solar power installation in California.

With the UAE deciding to join established players Spain and USA in developing commercial scale CST technology, it serves to further demonstrate the feasibility of solar power as a baseload energy source. Moreover, the fact that one of the world’s largest petrochemical companies is building a renewable energy plant in an oil-rich nation is indicative of a growing global awareness for the critical role that CST and other renewable energy resources play in securing our future energy needs. Whatever the reason, this latest development will ‘up the ante’ for other countries with excellent solar reserves.

Australia, with its unique geography and climate, enjoys several comparative advantages over other countries when it comes to deploying CST technology. Its solar resource is equal to the world’s best with low seasonal fluctuation. The sheer size of the Australian continent allows for significant diversity of sites and, unlike areas such as the Middle East, the frequency of dust clouds and sandstorms (which reduce the efficiency of parabolic collectors) is low.

For these reasons, Beyond Zero Emissions has selected CST as a key technology for transforming Australia’s energy sector to 100% renewables by 2020. CST can provide 60% of Australia’s stationary energy supply by the end of the decade, amounting to a total of 3500MW of solar capacity to be progressively deployed over 12 sites. The deployment of commercially proven CST technologies will create up to 65,000 jobs in construction with a further 28,000 workers employed in ongoing operation and maintenance.

For further details, look out for the forthcoming Zero Carbon Australia 2020 - Stationary Energy report to be released on June 22, 2010.

Dr Fred Morse is a veteran of the solar industry.  He started out in solar assessing the viability of the resource for Nixon, helped save the industry when a report by the NRC at the time was trying to close down the US Department of Energy Solar programs and he now is pushing forward with Abengoa's Solana plant and the industry in general as head of the CSP division Solar Energy Industries Association.  Dr Morse speaks to Matthew Wright from his home in the USA - Originally Broadcast 100323

Transcript: 

Matthew Wright:  Welcome to another edition of the Beyond Zero show, broadcast around Australia on Community Radio from the studios of 3CR Melbourne. Beyond Zero is produced by the campaign centre Beyond Zero Emissions. And we’re a not for profit non-government organisation that works on reducing climate change and solutions to global warming. I’m Matthew and today Scott is having a break. 

So on today’s show we’ll be talking to Dr Fred Morse, and he’s the senior adviser for US Operations for Abengoa Solar Inc. Dr Morse first became involved in renewable energy issues in the late 1960s when he served as executive director of the White House Assessment of Solar Energy as a national energy resource(?). In his work at the US Department of Energy, he played a significant role in defining and managing major solar energy research and development programs. Dr Morse was the chairman of the Western Governors’ Association Solar Task Force, was a member of the New Mexico CSP Task Force and is the chairman of the CSP Division of the US Solar Energy Industries Association. Dr Morse is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, received an MS in Nuclear Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford. So, it’s with great pleasure that we have Dr Morse on the line from the US. Hello Dr Morse.

Fred Morse: Hello. It’s a pleasure to be with you.

Matthew Wright: Thank you. Thank you. Now, you’ve got a very long association with renewable energy. Now, we have spoken to some real old veterans, some people who started in wind power in the UK with the Central Energy Generation Board, but I think you’re possibly the longest, and I believe that you started back in the ‘60s. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got interested in renewable energy or solar?

Fred Morse: Sure, I’d be happy to, but I’d like to point out an Australian with the same name - but Roger Morse from CSIRO - was actually somebody working in this field when I first started. So I think the pioneer award goes to an Australian.

I was teaching at the University of Maryland in the ‘60s when President Nixon, in 1969, asked if solar energy was relevant to the US. A very interesting question. I was asked to gather a group of people to write a report to answer his question, which I did, and that started my career in solar energy.

Matthew Wright: And what happened in those first years – in the ‘60s and ‘70s – what sort of solar programs were getting up?

Fred Morse: Well, what happened was President Carter, who believed in this technology, he in fact had a water heating system installed on the White House. He was even brave enough to heat the inauguration stand for his inauguration, which your listeners may want to know, takes place on usually [laughs] the coldest day of the year. And, although it didn’t provide an abundant amount of heat, it showed his commitment.

So the Carter years in the early ‘70s were very, very good for solar energy. The oil embargo, I think in ’73, stimulated a lot of interest by the Congress and many, many programs started. And as I said, we did come to Australia more than once to see the excellent work done by CSIRO.

Then President Reagan came along, with really not a great love for –  in those days it was called alternative energy – and pretty much the programs declined during those years. The policy supports were removed and a lot of the work that was started phased down. But what happened after that was the realisation that in addition to energy security, and in addition to just using a domestic resource, the environmental issues became clear – clearer – and people started to say why not use our domestic resource, which helps us with security, and it provides energy benefits. And what’s happened more recently is the jobs and the economic benefits. 

So, solar energy, while it started out as an energy resource issue, became an energy security issue, became an environmental issue, and now is an economic issue. And it really took all four of those to allow solar to become as relevant and as active as it is today.

Matthew Wright: Now, one big milestone was the building of the large Mojave Desert solar thermal trough plants, and can you tell us what conditions led to the company Luz building those during the Carter years?

Fred Morse: Well actually it was a – you know, policies make markets – and the Federal Government and the State of California had policies that allowed Luz to build these plants commercially. They were privately financed and they started in the mid-‘80s, and the last one was built in the early ‘90s. They sold their power to a big utility company in California. They were and they are highly successful. They are - their capacity is 354 megawatts. They have been working for on the average of 25 years. They work better today than their first day in operation because of the very good maintenance and upgrades that have been made, so they really have been a tremendous success.

Policies make markets and policies kill markets. In the early ‘90s the policy supports were removed for a variety of reasons. Luz as a company ceased to operate, but the plants that they built, all owned by private owners, continue to function today.

Matthew Wright: And, you did say those plants are working better today than they were when they were first installed, and I think that’s a really important point. Also, weren’t they for many years the biggest solar installation in the world?

Fred Morse: They were, and they are. And, you know, there are many, many flavours of solar energy. There’s solar water heating; there’s solar cooling; there’s photovoltaics. I’m talking about solar thermal electricity generation where you use, where you concentrate the sun’s energy to achieve high enough temperatures to generate high temperature, high pressure steam and you feed that into a steam turbine the same as you would from a fossil plant.

So that’s the technology. And the reason why it’s working better today is that we’ve been able to upgrade some of the key components based on the successful research that was done over the last decade or two.

Matthew Wright: And when did you yourself move from generally looking at policy and technical details for government into a focus on solar thermal?

Fred Morse: Ah, [laughs], it’s an interesting question. I was doing general policy work and around 2000 there was a study done by a very influential organisation in the United States that basically said solar thermal power really didn’t have a market and it didn’t have potential and it really didn’t deserve government R&D funds. The industry mobilised around that threat and I was hired to help rebut that, and that got me back into the solar thermal power field.

I was then hired by the Department of Energy to go around the south-west of the US, the only part of the country where this technology would work well because it needs high desert solar radiation - which you have a lot in your country as well – and I raised the awareness of governors and utilities and policy makers so that when the environmental issues emerged strong, the states took the lead. And it was California and Arizona and others where they passed laws that required a certain per cent of new generation to be green, and some even said a portion of that has to be solar. And that was the policy that opened up the market for this large scale concentrating solar power.

And the [indistinct 10:06] plants, the plants in the Mojave, 354 megawatts, we’re now in the US up to about 430 megawatts but we have another 8000 megawatts with signed contracts with utilities who say if you build it, we will buy the power for 20, 25 years. So there’s been some growth, but the real growth is still head of us.

Matthew Wright: And now, you mentioned a study from the National Resource Commission, I think it was, that said that solar wasn’t viable and, I guess, was advising to scale down the US Department of Energy solar research programs. Can you tell us about the response to that, and I think that NREL and Sandia National Laboratories commissioned a company called Sargent & Lundy to review their internal numbers, and how that went?

Fred Morse: Yeah. Well, the report, as I said, said three things. The report I think was deeply flawed, it was not well done. It said that the technology didn’t have a market; that there wasn’t an industry; and that research would not help bring the cost down. And so the Department of Energy hired Sargent & Lundy, which is a large engineering company, to do a due diligence study and answer the question: what is the cost potential reduction for CSP, concentrating solar power, for the trough design or the power tower design. 

And their study showed that both of these technologies had tremendous cost reduction potential – about 25 per cent of that coming from research and development, about 25 per cent coming from scaling up to a larger size, and about 50 per cent coming from just the learning that goes along with all new technologies. And that report was pivotal in stimulating another report by the same organisation that basically reversed the conclusions of the first report.

So the Department of Energy was never able to terminate that program –  Congress kept it alive. And now the Department of Energy is completely behind this technology – very supportive, funding a lot of research on innovative ways to store energy and reduce the cost.

Matthew Wright: In the ‘80s and ‘90s I guess with low oil prices, was it that the conditions weren’t right for solar thermal?

Fred Morse: Correct. Correct. Solar thermal, as I said, makes steam. I’m sure that your listeners know what you do in a nuclear power plant or in a coal power plant – you simply boil water and it makes steam. So, just as you can with a magnifying glass, burn a hole in a piece of paper, by concentrating the sun’s rays you can certainly generate steam and run a conventional power plant. So the problem in the ‘80s and ‘90s was that the price of conventional fuel, at that time coal and natural gas, was very low and a solar thermal power plant has no fuel cost, but it does have a high initial cost because you basically, once you build the plant, you have all the fuel for the 30 or 40 years of the design life.

If you had to buy 30 or 40 years of coal, along with your coal plant, the price might be quite a bit different. So CSP plants were really unable to compete against the low price of conventional fuel. But over the years those prices have increased, that is brown electricity prices have gone up, and CSP prices have come down. And now they’re close enough to where utilities are willing to buy the power from these plants, at a slightly higher price, but there are many, many benefits that come with it. It’s zero emissions; it’s hedge against future carbon policy; it’s a hedge against drought; it’s a hedge against natural gas price fluctuations; and it’s attractive enough to have sold the output of over 6000 megawatts of CSP [indistinct 14:57].

Matthew Wright: Our guest today is Dr Fred Morse, and he’s the senior adviser of US Operations for Abengoa Solar. And importantly, he’s the chairman of the CSP division of the US Solar Energy Industries Association. Now, we were just talking about that ability to get steam. Now, something that’s really come of age now is the addition of storage, and most of the major vendors are looking at using, initially at least, molten salt – so, industrial fertilizer. Can you tell us how that really changes the framing of the debate? The fact that these plants can do baseload and we can – I don’t know about the United States – but here often people who are fighting against, say, renewable energy - there aren’t that many of them, but they are out there – they often say: oh, there’s a fossil fuel plant backing it up. Or, they have all sorts of excuses to try and diminish the value in the public space of solar and wind, and things like that.

Fred Morse: Yes. Well I’m sure your listeners know that the sun comes up in the morning and it goes down at night. But they know that activities start before sunrise and continue well into the evening and into the night. So, solar energy, without the ability to store the energy in  a cost effective way, is limited to providing peaking(?) power, and you’re right – there’s got to be a, you know, power plant somewhere to handle clouds and rain and night time.

Solar thermal technology, CSP technology – because they’re thermal, because they use the sun to heat a fluid – you can store that fluid in a thermos bottle, or like a thermos bottle. And so the way it works is you make the solar field a little larger. Some of the solar field provides the energy that’s needed in the daytime, to make steam and run the steam generator – I mean the steam turbine. But some of that energy is stored, and the storage medium is a molten salt. It’s an industrial, as you’ve said, it’s like an industrial fertilizer. It’s a rather common material and it has a very high heat capacity and other properties. So you can imagine taking that energy that you collect in the daytime, that you don’t need, and storing that.

And when the sun goes down, you simply transfer that energy out, generate steam with it, and the steam turbine does not know at all that the sun went down. It doesn’t know that a cloud passed over the plant, and the people who count on running their air conditioner at night, on a hot summer day, or using electricity on a cold winter morning, that could all come from the sun. And it’s completely changed the value of solar thermal power in the minds of the utilities.

Matthew Wright: And initially in the United States there’s a lot of talk about using them for peaker(?) plants for the mid to late afternoon and evening peaks.

Fred Morse: I would say that thermal storage, the use of thermal storage, is still in its infancy in the US. There is a plant that my company, Abengoa Solar, is designing now for the Arizona public service market that will have six hours of thermal storage. Some of the utilities – either they’re on the coast and they don’t have that very high peak demand in the evening, or they have other resources in their system, hydro for example – they’re still looking at solar as a way to displace the peak load.

But as thermal storage becomes more and more widespread, then solar will become an intermediate resource. And once the economics makes sense – then/mean(?) technically you can run a solar thermal power plant, a CSP plant 24 hours(?). It’s been proven, it’s technically certainly feasible, but it may not make economic sense if you have much cheaper energy sources, baseload, nuclear or hydro, or a coal plant which generally would operate at a lower price.

So as the storage becomes more widespread, and adding more and more hours of storage makes economic sense, then I think you’ll start to see CSP as an option to baseload power.

Matthew Wright: Now, we were talking about the Sargent & Lundy report, and one of the findings in that is that after a considerable installation of troughs and towers, eventually towers potentially have a lower price point than troughs. Now, I’ve noticed that many companies, such as Solar Millennium and Sinair(?) and quite a BrightSource are moving towards towers, or have plans to go to towers. Do you think that there’ll be an eventual move to towers? And will that be in decades, or will there be a wave of troughs, and companies like Abengoa that have tower solutions will move quickly to towers?

Fred Morse: Well, in many ways, that will be controlled a lot by the banks who will have to finance these projects and will always ask questions about performance and risk and, you know, ‘how do I know?’ Troughs right now - because of the plants in the Mojave and a lot of new ones in Spain - troughs are generally considered commercial by banks, and they’re willing to lend money to plants that are using that technology.

Abengoa Solar has built the world’s first two commercial power tower plants in Spain, and there are quite a few companies that are signing our purchase agreements for power towers. And the attractiveness of the power tower is that it operates at a higher temperature, which means the conversion to electricity is more efficient, and it certainly has the potential for lower costs, which the Sargent & Lundy report showed as well.

I think – well right now – the US market is almost 50 per cent trough and 35 per cent tower and the rest is [indistinct 21:58]. And that’s on the signed power(?) purchase agreements. So I think the market is, you know, sort of hedging its bets. I think that troughs will continue in the market. A tower is a tower: a tower is highly visible. You have questions about air space, you have questions about visual impact, and while I think there are many, many places where a power tower could be cited, it’s a different situation than a trough which has a rather low profile.

Troughs will get to higher temperatures, and I think it’ll be very interesting – it’ll be an interesting horse race to see how that plays out. I definitely think you’ll see more towers in the future, but I don’t think you’ll see a loss of the trough technology in the markets, certainly not for a very long time.

Matthew Wright: Now in Spain there’s been a huge rush to solar, in fact, there’s about $A20 billion, so I guess about a similar amount US, maybe $US15-18 billion, worth of plants that are set to be constructed over the next few years. Is the US sort of losing ground to countries like Spain? And why is it that they’ve managed to really get going and have trough plants under construction all over the place? And they’ve got thermal storage so many of them are running 24 hours in summer. And the United States has a lot in planning but nothing has broken ground.

Fred Morse: Yep. What did I say earlier? Policies make markets. Spain had a very effective policy called the feed-in tariff. It was used for wind, it was used for photovoltaics and it’s used for concentrating solar power. And as a result of that very favourable policy – and we don’t have time to talk about what makes it so favourable – but, trust me, it is very effective. It allowed the Spanish companies, primarily, and some other companies to start to build trough plants(?), some with storage, you’re right.

I think the US has a much larger market potential, and I think the US will very quickly catch up to Spain, and will surpass Spain in the installed capacity. But certainly their very good policy allowed them to start a lot quicker. I mean, we started with the six(?) plants in the Mojave and then policies went away and we stopped, and they came back with this very effective policy and you see what happens.

Matthew Wright: Now there’s something like ten to twenty plants that could break ground this year, and I think there’s some federal stimulus money. The first amount that’s been announced, I think $1.8b for BrightSource. Can you tell us – we’ve got just a couple of minutes now – can you just tell us a bit about who’s likely, or how many plants are likely to break ground, and how many more announcements around federal loan guarantees and the like will there be by the end of the year?

Fred Morse: Well, the Bright Source announcement was certainly cheered by the CSP industry. They are the first of the CSP plants to get a loan guarantee. The loan guarantee gives them access to long term, low interest money, which is important to finance these plants.

There are many more developers who are working through the loan guarantee process. It’s very difficult for me to guess how many will get through that. But once you have a loan guarantee in your hand, you still have to finance the rest you need – that’s only for debt. You have equity; you have to permit the site; you have to get your transmission connection secure; then you have to build a plant and start operating.

So the loan guarantee is a very important step along the way, but it’s not the only one and it’s very difficult for me to guess. Personally I hope that you’ll see quite a few projects starting construction this year, and I think that’s very possible, but the numbers are very hard to guess.

Matthew Wright: Great. Thank you very much Dr Morse for joining us and sharing your knowledge with our listeners today.

Fred Morse: It’s been a pleasure. Thank you for inviting me.

Matthew Wright: Thank you.

Fred Morse: Goodbye.

Matthew Wright: And that was Dr Fred Morse, and he’s a senior advisor of US operations for Abengoa Solar – and they’re the company that has those beautiful looking solar power plants. If you do a search on the internet for PS10 or PS20, PS10, you’ll be able to have a look at photos of those.

He’s also, importantly, the chairman of the Concentrating Solar Panel Division of the US Solar Energy Industries Association. And if you’d like to hear that interview again it’ll be podcast at the 3cr.org.au website and the Beyond Zero Emissions website.

Beyond Zero talks to Dr Fred Morse head of the CSP division Solar Energy Industries Association

MELBOURNE – While the Federal government has at last shown it can identify Australian innovation with the Budget's support for the Australian National University’s “Big Dish” Technology, it has negligently overlooked other key renewable energy solutions.

ANU's Big Dish is committed to receive $60 Million to get a 40MWe power plant up and running at Whyalla South Australia.

“The commitment for the Big Dish shows that Australia can value its innovators and in particular its solar innovators,” said Matthew Wright, Executive Director of Beyond Zero Emissions.

“After the Howard Government let home-grown solar energy company Ausra (now Areva Solar) go offshore in search of capital only to be bought up by the world's largest nuclear power company, it's good to see that
Australian solar innovation will be commercialised in Australia”

However, Energy Minister Martin Ferguson's announcement late last night of which “winners” he has picked for the first round of the Solar Flagships funding reveals a government that does not understand the solar energy advances that have already passed muster overseas.

“Flagships should never have included funding for photovoltaic projects because that solar technology does not presently have storage capabilities allowing it to dispatch energy when the sun doesn't shine,” said Wright.

ACS Cobra’s solar thermal Flagships application was excluded from funding, even though energy experts agree that it is the most promising renewable energy proposal in Australia.

“It’s absurd that the Rudd government’s budget failed to invest in ACS Cobra’s projects. The company is building one third of the world's commercial scale solar thermal plants and is the only company to have
commercial plants operating that dispatch power 24 hours,” Mr Wright
said.

ACS Cobra is the only company that met the government's criteria that specified a plant had to be operating for 12 months with a capacity of at least 30MWe.

“It is clear the government has failed to follow its own guidelines,” said Wright. “I believe some of the shortlisted choices the government has made show it is obsessed with validating existing coal facilities
and supporting the most basic and primitive solar technologies that have been long superceded by more recent commercial developments in the field of solar energy.”

The imperative of energy storage has also been ignored by the flagship's shortlist selection.

“Without currently available molten salts storage a Solar thermal plant can not produce baseload power. It seems like the government is hell bent on supporting the status quo and making sure that the baseload myth is not busted.”

The generation of Linear Fresnel technology that has been chosen for two of the four solar thermal projects generates low temperatures and has been likened by engineers to having "warm water in the desert." 

"The choice of low temperature solar thermal will equal low efficiency"

“In Spain and the US, Solar power plants will be built this year that run more hours of a year at equivalent full output than NSW coal fired power plants. That's baseload Solar. That's baseload renewables. That's the future just around the corner, which the Australian government is blind to,” said Mr Wright.

For further information or comment, contact Matthew Wright, Executive
Director of Beyond Zero Emissions

MELBOURNE - Frustrated by the Rudd Government’s inaction on climate change, a broad coalition of prominent Australians and organisations representing hundreds of thousands of people have signed an open letter (see below) calling for the government to massively increase renewable energy investment in tomorrow’s federal budget.

Notable signatories include:

• Progressive online campaign organisation Get Up!, boasting over 350,000 supporters
• Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics
• Leading climate scientist Professor David Karoly
• Guy Pearse, Research Fellow at the Global Change Institute and author of High and Dry
• Major national environmental organisations Friends of the Earth, Environment Victoria and Greenpeace Australia
• The Australian Youth Climate Coalition, with a membership of over 50,000
• Renewable energy advocate the Alternative Technology Association
• Renewable energy industry group the Australian Solar Energy Society
• The independent think tank The Australia Institute
• The Electrical Trades Union Victoria
• Over 30 community-based climate groups from around Australia.

“The time has come for the Rudd government to take an ambitious nation-building approach to climate policy. Labor should commit to a renewable energy project with the scale and vision of a Snowy Mountains Scheme for the 21st Century,” says Beyond Zero Emissions Executive Director Matthew Wright. 

“There is a critical need for public investment in large-scale renewable energy projects and climate-friendly infrastructure. These projects are the best way to reduce Australia’s emissions and protect the nation from dangerous climate change,” says Matthew Wright.

“Most Australians would be shocked that the Rudd government is investing up to 28 times more money in the broadband rollout than in renewable energy and climate-friendly infrastructure*. With a funding differential like this, it’s reasonable to presume that our Prime Minister considers slow internet a greater moral challenge than climate change.”

Wright says, “Public investment in sustainable infrastructure should match the investment in the National Broadband Network at a bare minimum.” 

* Between $22-43 billion in the National Broadband Rollout compared to $1.5 billion for the Solar Flagships program announced in the 2009-10 budget.

 

Letter to the Honourable Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the Honourable Treasurer Wayne Swan, and Members of the Government The Critical Need for Renewable Energy Investment in the 2010/11 Budget

May 10, 2010

Dear Prime Minister Rudd, Treasurer Swan, and Members of the Government,

We express our profound concern that your government has still not proposed or implemented any policy to significantly reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. At a time when climate change experts agree we must act, it is imperative that your government begins efforts to de-carbonise our national economy.

Australia cannot afford to waste any more time in responding to the climate crisis. This is why we call for the Rudd Government to scale-up investment in renewable energy and climate-friendly infrastructure in this year’s federal budget.

Australia needs a nation-building project for climate change with the scale and vision of a Snowy Mountains Scheme for the 21st Century. Such an initiative will drive our transition away from fossil fuels towards a clean, renewable energy economy. This approach will spur economic development and create good Australian jobs. It will put Australia on track to achieve the emissions reductions needed to protect the nation from dangerous climate change.

We call for a fiscal commitment to a nation-building project that at least matches the $22 to $42 billion your government will invest in the rollout of a national broadband network.

An investment package for this infrastructure will demonstrate your government’s commitment to addressing the challenge of climate change, recognised widely and by your own government as “the greatest moral, economic and environmental challenge of our generation.”

Sincerely,

Alternative Technology Association

Ararat Greenhouse Action Group Inc.

The Australia Institute

Australian Solar Energy Society

Australian Youth Climate Coalition

Bayside Climate Change Action Group

Beyond Zero Emissions Inc.

Climate Action Canberra

Climate Action Calendar

Climate Action Newtown

Climate Change Balmain-Rozelle

Climate Emergency Network

C4 (Communities Combating Climate Crisis)

Dandenong Ranges Renewable Energy Association Inc

Darebin Climate Action Now

Electrical Trades Union Victorian Branch

Emerald for Sustainability

Environment Victoria

Friends of the Earth Australia

GetUp!

Greenfaith Australia

Greenleap Strategic Institute

Greenpeace Australia Pacific

Healesville Environment Watch Inc.

Jewish Ecological Coalition

Kingston Conservation and Environment coalition

Locals Into Victoria's Environment

Mount Alexander Sustainability Group

National Toxics Network

Parramatta Climate Action Network

Postgraduate Environment Network (PEN)

Renewable is Do-able (Save Solar Systems Campaign)

Surf Coast Energy Group

Sustainability in Stonnington

Sutherland Climate Action Network

Sydney University Climate Action Collective

Transition Kurilpa, Brisbane

Victorian Climate Action Centre

Victorian Climate Action Calendar

Western Region Environment Centre

Yarra Climate Action Now

100% Renewables

3CR Community Radio

450ppm

 

Dr. Geoff Davies, Senior Fellow in Geophysics at the Australian National University

Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics

Dr Nina Hall, Director Climate Action Network Australia

Mick Harris, Managing Director EnviroGroup

Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Director of the Global Change Institute, the University of Queensland

Professor David Karoly, climate scientist, University of Melbourne

Tony Kevin, former senior Australian diplomat and author of Crunch Time

Guy Pearse, Research Fellow at the Global Change Institute and author of High and Dry

 

 

Hans-Josef Fell is a Green party member of German Parliament who has been one of the driving forces behind establishing the German renewable energy Feed-in-tariff.

He drafted the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG in German), and its subsequent amendments, which has led to a dramatic rise in the development and implementation of renewables such as wind and solar power within Germany.

The EEG has since provided a model for other countries pursuing renewable energy and emissions reductions. For his efforts he has been awarded numerous environmental and industry prizes in Germany.

Hans-Josef Fell has also founded the Energy Watch Group an association of independent researchers and economics experts who are in the process of developing sustainable concepts to secure our global energy supply. Energy Watch Group research concluded that the world had passed global Peak Oil several years ago.

Mr Fell will be discussing his advocacy, lobbying and policy work, with a focus on the development of his new climate change strategy. Hans-Josef Fell will be appearing via Skype.

Special thanks to University of Melbourne, Office of Environmental Programs for supporting us in bringing you this event.

Event location: Sunderland Theatre, MEDICAL BUILDING-Rm:C216-Flr:2, University of Melbourne.

Date: 6.30pm, Monday 3 May 2010

Please RSVP query-environment@unimelb.edu.au

Download promotional poster here Hans Josef Fell's Slideshow and Audio Vimeo Video of Hans Josef Fell giving talk