The Queensland government hopes to increase the state’s use of renewable energy with new measures such as introducing it to all indigenous communities.
The parliament’s Environment and Resources Committee released its report into powering more of the state with renewable energy sources in May.
Noting around 30 per cent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions come from Queensland, it made 14 recommendations to drive an increase in green power sources.
The Queensland government this week responded to the report and has accepted 10 of those recommendations.
Queensland will now aspire to the federal government target of sourcing 20 per cent of the state’s electricity from renewable energy by 2020, and will consider using upfront subsidies or interest-free loans to encourage customers to switch to renewable energy sources such as solar power.
The government also gave in-principle support for a plan to introduce renewable energy systems into 34 remote indigenous communities that rely on diesel generators for power.
The report said the plan had many benefits but significant technical issues may prevent it happening by 2020.
“Renewable technologies introduced into these communities need to be proven to be reliable given the remoteness, potential wet season isolation, and the difficulty in obtaining prompt servicing from qualified personnel in these isolated areas,” it said.
It noted opportunities presented by a federal government program that provides financial support for the installation of solar panels and wind turbines in about 50 remote indigenous communities.
But the government did not support other proposals such as mandating GreenPower for recharging electric vehicles.
It said it supported voluntary uptake and would encourage its use instead.
Neither did it want to consider mandating the purchase of GreenPower to offset the electricity consumed by household pool pumps and air conditioners, saying it had other programs to slow the rapid growth in electricity use.
