Alice Springs of Australia receives federal funding for promoting solar power
April 16, 2007
Source: News.com.au
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21565270-17001,00.html
ALICE Springs has become the fourth Australian city to receive funding under a federal program promoting solar power. The Northern Territory town joins Adelaide, Townsville and Sydney’s Blacktown under the Solar Cities program set up three years ago. The Federal Government will provide Alice Springs with $12.3 million to install solar photovoltaic panels on 230 homes and business, 1000 solar hot water systems and roll out 400 smart meters.
Solar heat and power generators will also be installed at Alice Springs Airport and three other public facilities. The public-private consortium running the program in Alice Springs will contribute an additional $17 million.
“Alice Springs has the ingredients for a successful Solar City – the highest concentration of sun in Australia, an international tourist hub with a rich natural and cultural heritage, and a committed and enthusiastic consortium willing to put the project into action,” Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said. Mr Turnbull said the solar projects in the four cities involved would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 76,000 tonnes each year.
Prime Minister John Howard in June 2004 allocated $75 million towards the initiative. NT Chief Minister Clare Martin later said Alice Springs would become one of the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient towns in the country. “It is a great victory for everyone who has worked so hard to win the bid,” she said. “It sends a strong message to the world that the Northern Territory is strongly committed to energy conservation and savings.”
Ms Martin said the NT Government would provide $4.9 million towards the $21 million project. But Federal Labor MP Warren Snowdon said the announcement showed how far the Federal Government lagged behind the community. “It took two years for the Alice Springs bid to get an answer out of the Commonwealth, which suggests that the Government’s processes for dealing with the energy crisis are deficient, to say the least,” he said. “It lags well behind the community, not just on using renewable energy but in developing workable strategies to deal with the implications of climate change.”