Coalition releases new energy plan: Burn, baby, burn!

(see also: Coalition slashes ARENA funding to pay for million solar roofs program).

The Federal Coalition has unveiled its new energy and resources document, promising to focus on restoring coal-fired power stations to profitability, boost exploration for oil and gas, and to produce another “white paper” on energy.

Other proposals in the document prepared by Opposition energy spokesman Ian Macfarlane include an investigation into the use of thorium as a potential energy source of the future, and support mechanisms for the use of LNG as a transport fuel.

“Australians have a choice between a Coalition government that will give industry policy certainty and stability or a Labor government putting investment, jobs and economic growth at risk with erratic policies and taxation burdens on Australia’s most important industry. “

However, the only reference to the country’s $20 billion renewable industry is the repeat of a promise made last December to hold yet another investigation into the health impacts of wind farms, and confirmation of a previously leaked commitment to require “real time” monitoring of wind turbine noise – a move that wind energy groups say would involve “crippling” costs.

“Some members of public have serious concerns over the potential impacts of wind farms on the health of people living in their vicinity,” the document says.

“The lack of reliable and demonstrably independent evidence on the subject of wind farms both adds to those concerns and allows vested interests on either side of the debate to promulgate questionable information to support their respective cases.

“We will implement a program to establish real-time monitoring of wind farm noise emissions to be made publicly available on the internet.”

The renewables industry has previously said that real-time monitoring would impose unbearable costs on the wind industry, and would be almost useless because of the inability to separate other noise in real-time.

Despite the fact that there have been 19 separate studies into wind farm health, including one by the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Coalition said it would establish either an independent NHMRC research program or an independent expert panel   to examine and determine any actual or potential health effects of wind farms.

A previous study by the NHMRC in 2010 found that “there are no direct pathological effects from wind farms and that any potential impact on humans can be minimised by following existing planning guidelines.” A Senate inquiry into wind farm health fell largely along party lines, although it said it was unable to establish a direct link between ill health and the noise generated by wind farms.

The Coalition has said that the inquiry would be made in response to demands from anti-wind Senators John Madigan and Nick Xenophon, who may hold the balance of power in a new Senate.

“This panel will be modelled on the Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development,” it says.

The announcement came as  the Coalition released its costings, including an announcement that it will strip $185 million from the “connecting renewables” program, saying it would be “suspended until committed demand is identified.” That could be because it also plans to dilute the renewable energy target after yet another review next year.

A further $150 million has been redirected from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to fund the million roofs program, while $40 is saved because the “geothermal and tidal towns” program is also axed..

The new energy white paper will address issues of “energy security” and transparency that the Coalition says had not been addressed in the previous document.

It would also investigate the role of alternative transport fuel sources, including but not limited to biofuels, LNG, CNG and LPG, and another white paper would look at how the government would support Australia’s “world leading” expertise in petroleum and mining services industries.

The document says the Coalition would look into formalising the sale of uranium to India, and would also examine the potential use of thorium as an energy source, noting that Australia possesses an estimated 18.7 per cent (489,000t) of the world’s identified resources.

“The primary source of thorium in Australia and globally is the mineral monazite. Thorium can be used as an alternative source of fuel for energy generation and possesses an energy content that can be utilised almost in its entirety,” it says. Thorium is often touted as a future energy source, although most experts say it is decades away from deployment.

Among other initiatives, the Coalition says it will provide $100 million in incentives to boost mineral and petroleum exploration, and would convene an “urgent meeting” of state governments, gas explorers and producers and gas consumers to set in place “a workable gas supply strategy for the East Coast gas market to the year 2020. “. This follows widespread warnings of a sharp jump in gas prices as the LNG terminal in Queensland begin exports, and of a potential gas shortage in some areas such as NSW.

The Coalition document noted that electricity generators across Australia have faced “huge losses” in value thanks to the carbon tax. It said these losses meant higher costs for consumers and taxpayers, although it didn’t explain how.

“The O’Farrell government has made it clear that its black coal-fired power stations will suffer a loss in value of at least $5 billion because of the carbon tax,” it said. “This is a cost that will be paid by New South Wales taxpayers already struggling with rising cost of living pressures.”

Leigh Ewbank from Friends of the Earth’s Yes 2 Renewables initiative says the anti-wind farm stance of some Coalition members is out of touch with mainstream views.

“All available public polling shows strong public support for wind farms,” says Ewbank. “The Coalition desperately needs to make a wind energy friendly policy announcement to reaffirm its commitment to Australia’s most affordable renewable energy source.”

Meanwhile, the Coalition also says it will cut foreign aid by $4.5 billion over the forward estimates. Much of this money will be spent on building roads such as Melbourne’s East West link ($1.5bn), Sydney’s WestConnex ($1.5bn) and the Brisbane Gateway Motorway upgrade ($1bn).