Pages tagged "Snapshot Latest"
Queensland 2020 Election: Party Promises and Scorecard
Queensland's 2020 state election is fast approaching and every party is coming to the table with different energy policies. We've collated all the promises that parties have made and rated them on their commitment to building a bright, renewable future for the Sunshine State.
Read moreRenewables: the Key to Cheaper Energy for Industry
North Queenslanders should be proud of the region’s impressive solar and wind resources – this natural advantage is the key to cheaper electricity prices and could be the main driver of new industries coming to the area.
Read moreUsing Clean Energy to Create Steel
Australia can utilise its natural renewable energy resources—some of the world's best solar and wind—to create new manufacturing and minerals processing industries.
Read moreGovernment Inaction Stalling New Clean Energy Projects
Just months ago large-scale clean energy projects were going gangbusters right across Queensland – bringing jobs and billions worth of investment to the regions. But now, Federal energy policy uncertainty has derailed the large-scale clean energy industry, particularly in Queensland.
Queensland's Potential Clean Energy Jobs Bonanza
We’ve just released an exciting analysis showing a whopping 51,000 construction jobs and almost 2,500 ongoing jobs will be created across Queensland if all the large-scale clean energy projects under development go ahead. That’s a game-changer.
Read moreNo Place Like Home for Mount Emerald Wind Farm Workers
For 14 years, Brenton Gibson worked in the mining industry on a fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) basis.
This paid the bills, but also kept him away from his wife Karina and two small children back at home in Yungaburra in Far North Queensland.
Brenton was already fascinated by RATCH-Australia’s 180 MW Mount Emerald Wind Farm project, which was located 20 km from his home on the Atherton Tablelands, so when an opportunity to join the Vestas team operating the site came up in 2018, he jumped at the chance.
“FIFO was OK, but very hard on family life,” he said.
“I missed a lot of birthdays, Christmases and other important events. It can be quite hard on your partner because you’re away and she’s dealing with babies on her own.”
“I was following the project from day dot, getting the newsletters and keeping an eye on progress, because I was interested in the technology, which was new to me. I was also interested in the site and how they were going to build it because it’s very difficult terrain.”
“When the opportunity came up to work there it was very appealing. I saw it as an opportunity to come home and work at home. It was definitely very appealing to my wife as well.”
Despite having no previous experience in renewables, the skills Brenton honed through apprenticeships and experience as an electrician in the mines stood him in good stead to make the switch to working as a wind turbine technician at Mount Emerald.
“There was a slight learning curve to get used to new systems, but the electrical side of it and the drawings were familiar.”
“Here you aren’t just an electrician. You are involved in a whole range of tasks, where at the mines they were very separate.”
“That’s not a bad thing at all, as long as you don’t mind getting dirty. There were some tools that were new to me, but with a bit of training you get used to it pretty quickly.”
“I am enjoying the job. I was up on the nacelle aligning the sensors this morning. I looked out over the wind farm and thought, ‘this is a bloody good office to have’.”
Brenton’s enthusiasm for the spectacular 53-turbine site is shared by the local community. When the wind farm gates were opened for the first public open day in August 2019, more than 600 people climbed aboard buses for a look around.
Brenton was pressed into service as a tour guide.
“The open day was fantastic,” he said.
“It was good to get people’s questions about the wind farm, how it works and help them understand what’s going on. I get a lot of questions from friends at barbecues as well. I get pounded with them actually.”
“People are genuinely interested in the wind farm and it’s good they get an opportunity to get more informed. The more people understand, the more they change their tune about the wind farm as well.”
With his children now aged five and seven, Brenton is clear on the advantages available to anyone else contemplating making use of their existing skills in the growing renewables industry.
“Doing this job has had extreme benefits for my family life and that’s the biggest takeaway I have. Whichever project you’re working on, in the wind industry you’ll always be near enough a town and that means you can settle down and have somewhere to go home to every night.”
About Mount Emerald Wind Farm
Mount Emerald Wind Farm was developed and built by RATCH-Australia and was Queensland’s largest wind farm when it began generating clean power in late 2018.
The project features 37 Vestas V117 turbines and 16 Vestas V112 machines. At the peak of construction 300 workers were employed. Ongoing employment of around 15 on-site staff is expected to be required to maintain the wind farm throughout its operating life.
Article originally posted by the Clean Energy Council.
3,000 QLD Construction Jobs Set to Disappear
The number of utility renewable energy construction jobs in Queensland is set to fall to zero next year if the Queensland Government doesn’t step up ambition on renewable energy growth, new analysis commissioned by Solar Citizens shows.
The analysis, carried out by Green Energy Markets, shows that at the beginning of this year close to 3,000 construction jobs were created from new large-scale renewable projects.
But a staggering drop in large-scale renewable investment across 2019 will see the jobs dry up completely by April.
In Queensland the amount of new renewable generation commissioned has dropped from over 1,400MW two years ago to less than 20MW this year, largely due to the end of the Federal Government’s Renewable Energy Target (RET).
“The RET has fuelled a renewable energy boom in Queensland over the last three years, creating thousands of jobs and giving Queenslanders affordable electricity,” said Ellen Roberts, Solar Citizens’ National Director.
“But the RET has now been fully subscribed, and without the right policies to jump-start renewable energy project construction, the jobs and economic activity will completely collapse.
“But it doesn’t have to be this way. The solutions needed will not only keep Queenslanders employed in good jobs, they will also increase the amount of affordable, clean electricity in our Sunshine State and lay the groundwork for a strong, low-carbon economy,” said Roberts.
The Solar Citizens says the Queensland Government can protect renewable energy jobs by:
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Accelerating delivery of Queensland’s Renewables 400 reverse auction programme, and bringing forward CleanCo’s 1,000MW target from 2025 to 2020
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Committing to support the construction of 1-2GW per year of new renewable energy generation capacity through to 2025.
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Planning for a mix of public and privately owned clean energy power stations.
“The Federal Government’s track record on transitioning the economy, and workers, to renewable energy has been pretty hopeless, but the Queensland State Government can stop this looming disaster,” said Roberts.
“Accelerating and raising the ambition of Queensland’s renewable energy sector will be good for workers, residents, and the planet—it’s a win-win situation and a no-brainer for the Queensland Government,” said Roberts.
An earlier report from Green Energy Markets found that Queensland is not on track to meet its 50 per cent by 2030 renewable energy target, projecting the Sunshine State will only reach 30 per cent.
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Contacts:
Ellen Roberts (Solar Citizens): 0408583694