Talking Point: Power up with wind and Marinus, because Tasmania has what everyone wants

ANTON ROHNER: Wind energy puts state in the box seat, especially if Marinus is built

RESOURCE: Robbins Island and Jim’s Plain will provide up to 1000MW of additional energy, equivalent to more than 30 per cent of Tasmania’s total energy demand.

WE lodged a development application for our proposed Jim’s Plain Renewable Energy Park with the Circular Head Council last month, and it is open for public comment.

We have done extensive consultation including 20 community drop-in sessions and many one-on-one meetings over the past two years. We have given presentations to schools, councils, politicians, industry bodies and interest groups throughout Tasmania.

When it comes to renewable energy, Tasmania has what the rest of Australia wants — reliable, low cost, renewable baseload power through our world-class hydro system, and world-class wind resources to complement it.

The opportunities are limitless. That’s why I’m so passionate about our Robbins Island and Jim’s Plain Energy Parks, which will put downward pressure on energy prices and mean jobs and investment (potentially over $1.5 billion) for Tasmanians.

In 2018, the State Government set a bold target for Tasmania to be 100 per cent self-sufficient in on-island renewable energy by 2022.

Based on known demand, this will require about 1000 more gigawatt-hours of installed renewable energy generation; a target we are well on track to achieve with the recent commissioning of the Cattle Hill Wind Farm and progress on the Granville Harbour Wind Farm.

But I believe we should be aiming for even more.

When developed to its full potential, Robbins Island and Jim’s Plain will provide up to 1000MW of additional energy, equivalent to more than 30 per cent of Tasmania’s total energy demand.

Stage one will see up to 500 MW of energy generated, with stage two taking generation capacity to 1000MW (subject to the second Bass Strait interconnector, Marinus Link, being developed).

This will supply Tasmania first, and only the excess energy generated will be exported to the mainland.

The project will create more than 400 jobs a year during the four-year construction, and 65 ongoing jobs; the vast majority will be in far North-West Tasmania.

Something that is often overlooked is that putting more lower cost renewable power into our grid at a time when this type of energy is at a premium will help attract new industry and jobs to Tasmania.

Carbon offsets equivalent to 750,000 vehicles a year will also be generated, which will help Tasmania meet its goal of zero net emissions by 2050.

And as the climate becomes drier and more unpredictable, this additional on-island renewable energy resource will help drought-proof Tasmania’s Hydro energy system.

Planning for Stage One of our project, which will deliver about 500MW of energy into the Tasmanian grid, is well under way, with construction planned to start in mid to late 2021, subject to all approvals.

The second stage will not be able to start until there is more transmission capacity between Tasmania and mainland Australia because the current Basslink cable has limited capacity.

Not only will a second interconnector provide redundancy in the case of a serious Basslink outage, it will provide the capacity needed for us (and others, including the Hydro) to export energy which is surplus to Tasmania’s requirements.

This will underpin the commercial sustainability of stage two of our project and open the door to additional renewable energy projects.

We were pleased to see the release of the business case for Project Marinus, which found the 350km, 1500MW interconnector was technically feasible and commercially viable.

It found the Marinus Link will unlock Tasmania’s potential as a renewable energy powerhouse, create thousands of jobs, drive billions of dollars in investment and put significant downward pressure on power prices. However, we believe the proposed timeline can be reduced.

We understand the opportunity for Australia to be a significant contributor to reducing emissions is 2025 not 2027, and we support the Tasmanian Government in reducing the timeline.

We believe it is also fundamental that the Tasmanian and federal governments work together to ensure the cost of Marinus is shared fairly and, given other states are the major beneficiaries, they should be responsible for the vast bulk of the expense.

We support work to change energy market rules to ensure Tasmanian energy users benefit fully from this energy resource.

Anton Rohner is the chief executive of UPC/AC Renewable Australia. UPC Robbins Island is 25 per cent Tasmanian owned and the management team is based in Australia.