Canberra light rail to run on 100% renewable energy

Stage one of Canberra’s light rail project, the proposed development of a multi-million dollar network linking Civic to Gungahlin in Canberra’s north, will be 100 per cent powered by renewables, the ACT government has revealed.

ACT environment minister Simon Corbell – who is also minister for the green transport project, dubbed Capital Metro – said the successful bidder would be required to source a minimum of 10 per cent of the light rail system’s electricity from renewable sources like solar or wind.

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“Combined with the ACT government achieving its target of 90 per cent renewable energy by 2020 – the time in which stage one light rail will be up and running – this will enable the Capital Metro project to be 100% green energy powered,” he said in a statement on the weekend.

Corbell said the successful bidder would also need to have measures in place to reduce the emissions resulting from building the network, including energy efficient construction practices and sourcing carbon offsets.

“These two project requirements demonstrate the ACT government’s leadership in tackling the impacts of climate change through prioritisation of renewal energy, reducing the ACT’s carbon emissions and a strong commitment to achieving carbon neutrality,” Corbell said.

“Canberra has the highest car dependence of any major Australian city, with transport now being responsible for 25 percent of the ACT’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“Light rail has the potential to greatly improve our city’s liveability and sustainability by getting people out of their cars and onto public transport. This will not only reduce our greenhouse gas emissions but also congestion and travel times.”

Meanwhile, the ACT government has kicked off the new week by signing up to two major international climate agreements: the Compact of States and Regions and the Compact of Mayors, and will report annually to an international audience through the Carbon Disclosure Project.

“Leading up to the UN conference in Paris in December, there are many global initiatives happening right now that are working to rally regional and state governments and corporations to respond to climate change,” Corbell said in a statement on Monday.

“Membership of the Compact of States and Regions and the Compact of Mayors mean the ACT Government will report annually on our targets and emissions reduction progress at both the territory and city scale.”

The Compact of Mayors is the world’s largest cooperative effort among mayors and city officials to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, track progress, and prepare for the impacts of climate change. Data collected, covering more than 200 million people, will become the evidence base needed to quantify the effectiveness of city action on greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation.

“By being involved and reporting on our targets and emissions reduction progress annually, the ACT can not only benchmark our actions on climate change, but actively contribute to more informed discussions at the Paris conference in December,” Corbell said.

Comments

8 responses to “Canberra light rail to run on 100% renewable energy”

  1. Barri Mundee Avatar
    Barri Mundee

    Encouraging development!

  2. Peter Campbell Avatar
    Peter Campbell

    The local paper The Canberra Times has been promoting this as a controversy. It looks more like making news to have something to report. They seem to have gone out of their way to give many column inches to anyone with an objection to this light rail project. Any letter to the editor that is opposed calls it a ‘tram’; anyone in favour calls it ‘light rail’, a bit like the anti-wind people put the word ‘industrial’ ahead of wind turbine whenever mentioning one. The local Liberals think they are onto a winner opposing this. Every NIMBY and crackpot is coming out of the woodwork.

  3. John Bromhead Avatar
    John Bromhead

    This is not nimbyism. The people objecting are not those who will be affected because they live close. Those people will get the light rail system. All the other 70% of Canberrans will get is the burden of its excessive cost.
    Those who will pay most will be the social housing tenants (about 10% of Canberra’s total) who will be cleared out from the rail corridor to places sometimes up to 30km from the city centre where they used to live. The windfall value of the land released is going towards the project. The project will be used to link two areas of privilege.
    Over half the population of Canberra object to the project since it does not stand up economically.
    The local newspaper, a Fairfax press paper, prints letters from both supporters and those against the project.
    I object to Minister Corbell’s push to have the ACT population move far further than the rest of Australia on renewable energy penetration. It doesn’t surprise me that the Greens and the Labor-left are so careless of the less fortunate among us.
    It seems Corbell wants a trip to Paris before he is thrown out of office.

    1. Peter Campbell Avatar
      Peter Campbell

      See what I mean!

    2. Peter Campbell Avatar
      Peter Campbell

      I don’t object to money spend in parts of the city remote from me, on things I will never use. I use only a subset of community facilities, just like everyone else. In any case, this is stage 1.
      The increase of land value coupled with increasing the density of housing along the corridor is just sensible planning. This helps to recoup the cost and maximises the number of people who can benefit by being able to walk/ride to the train station. I don’t see why it is cast as a negative that land value rises in the vicinity of the rail corridor.
      I am pleased that the ACT is well on the way to its 90% renewable energy target, and yet our electricity prices are lower than elsewhere. The main reason is the network was not run down and now needing catch-up like elsewhere.
      Rail is more expensive up front but cheaper to run – better than the other way around.

  4. Miles Harding Avatar
    Miles Harding

    One way to reduce the costs would be to run battery hybrid trams, allowing significant parts of the network to be free of overhead wires. This could also help with load leveling to better match the solar and wind resources.

    Trams are better installed earlier so the civic centres evolve around public transport and car use is curtailed. I am far happier seeing my taxes going to this sort of worthwhile public asset than a politician’s ediface project, such as Perth’s Elizabeth Quay (A.K.A. The Dullsville Ditch)

    1. Peter Campbell Avatar
      Peter Campbell

      The original Griffin plan for Canberra had light rail up the middle of all the major avenues so they were laid out with a large open middle. A hundred years ago, rapid public transport was the way of the future; private motor vehicles too expensive for everyday use by everyone. Then the 1930s depression put building of Canberra on hold. By the time building was underway again the motor car had taken over and the rail didn’t go in, but the space for it was still in the plan.

      1. Miles Harding Avatar
        Miles Harding

        That should make one part of the exercise a lot easier.

        Much credit to the city planner’s foresight, both then and now.

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