Hot Rock
Hot Rock Ltd has applied for grants totalling up to $9 million with the Victorian government to expedite advancement of its flagship Koroit geothermal project in southwest Victoria. The applications would complement the federal government’s geothermal drilling grant of $7 million awarded in August 2010.
Project Finance
Australian banks, highly dependent on offshore capital, will face increasing international scrutiny of their lending practices - particularly, their exposure to the coal industry.
Greenpeace’s study of domestic lending to Australia’s coal industry, by Dutch economic consultancy Profundo, is a shot across the bows for our major banks which, like their international peers, are under growing pressure to limit funding to the key industries that are wrecking the climate.
Profundo’s survey of loans over the last five years by seven Australian banks - comparing finance for existing and new coal-fired power stations, coalmines and coal port infrastructure, with finance for renewable energy projects - shows we are still heading in the wrong direction.
Resource Tax
The Gillard goverment is yet to decide on whether the tax rate for certain alternative coal technologies will be 22.5 or 40 per cent.
A consultation paper released by the government says coal extraction will be subject to 22.5 per cent mineral resource rent tax and coal-seam methane to the 40 per cent petroleum resource rent tax.
The varying rates under the proposed MRRT and PRRT could have an impact on the competitiveness of various fuels for generation and other industrial uses. Lets hope the government gets this right this time…
Wave Energy
A LACK of government support for the fledgling wave-energy industry is forcing Australian companies to increasingly invest overseas despite having the world’s best wave resource off our coastline.
Several Australian wave-energy proponents have started projects in such places as Hawaii, Central America and Ireland, saying Australia’s risk-averse tendency is holding back investment.
Ali Baghaei, the chief executive of Oceanlinx, said that while the federal government has been relatively supportive of more mature renewable energies such as wind power, its policy settings needed to support developing technologies in order to get the right mix of power generation.
Mike Ottaviano, the managing director of the Australian Securities Exchange-listed Carnegie Wave Energy, is pushing ahead with plans to establish a wave-power project at Garden Island, 50 kilometres from Perth.
One of the four grants was awarded to US-based Ocean Power Technologies and Leightons, which together won $66.5 million to construct a 19-megawatt wave farm near Portland, Victoria. A total of $65 million from the fund was not allocated.
EPi has experience in the development of wave projects within Australia. We have been involved with numerous wave projects under development. Including site identification, site studies, plant sizing, feasibility studies, configurations, estimating, business models and integration with other equipment like desalinisation plants. Visit the website www.elementalpower.com.au for more information on our services.
