Plans are afoot to execute one big leap for Territory-kind-renewable energy hubs to free the bush of the tyranny of distance, diesel and degraded roads.
Chief Minister Paul Henderson wants each of the 20 Territory growth towns to become independent energy hubs, using, in particular, solar technology.
He is in Canberra for a Council of Australian Governments shindig and will today pitch the vision.
“Twenty-five years ago, the Territory took a really bold step when we went from burning bunker oil for our electricity production - in Darwin in particular - and switched to gas from Central Australia, built the gas pipeline,” he said.
“It was decades ahead of its time and the rest of Australia is still playing catch-up in terms of reducing emissions.”
As the Federal Government moves to bring in a carbon tax, Mr Henderson wants to move the NT forward again to use energy that won’t attract the tax.
But his power gambit needs the Commonwealth’s planned Australian Renewable Energy Agency onside.
It will manage $3.2 billion worth of renewable energy projects.
“My proposal to the Commonwealth is that we should partner as the Northern Territory Government with this new agency to develop our 20 remote towns that we’re growing as stand-alone renewable energy hubs.”
At the moment, Power and Water pays out between $9 million and $15 million a year to purchase renewable energy certificates sold on the open market.
This is because it is not meeting renewable energy targets set by the Federal Government - and the money it spends goes interstate, such as to wind farms in Victoria.
Mr Henderson wants that money to be spent constructing energy hubs here.
