Do I need to move overseas to work in renewables industry?

A personal submission to the Abbott government’s RET Review

Dear Mr Warburton, Dr Fisher, Ms In’t Veld and Mr Zema,

My name is Daniel MacDonald. I work as a wind farm developer for CWP Renewables in Newcastle, NSW. Thank you for reading my submission.

I love my job. I wake every morning with the knowledge that the hard work I put in every day is doing some good. I chose to work in renewables. I became impassioned the day I climbed a wind turbine in the Alps of Austria. I marveled at the sheer scale and streamlined design of the blades, also how clean the inside of the machine was and how it was able to generate so much energy by just the swoosh of the blades in the stiff breeze. Ever since that day I have worked in wind farm development. I am now but one of an army of people in Australia that calls renewable energy a passion.

A strong renewable energy target is important to me not only for the future of my own job, but so I can be proud to know that the country I call home is doing it’s best to support a better future. It is important because I want to share my passion for clean energy with the extra 18,000 other potential employees by 2020.

My dream is to touch the white towers of wind turbines that I helped become real. I look forward to negotiating multi­million dollar deals attracting much needed investment in regional communities. I want to deliver on promises I have made with farmers in rural NSW to do my best to secure them additional farm income. For me, a strong Renewable Energy Target provides the confidence to do great things for my country, with my government effectively saying “we share a vision for a sustainable future”.

My passion for renewable energy extends to community energy projects. I helped to establish the Clean Energy Association of Newcastle and Surrounds (CLEANaS) in 2012. CLEANaS aims to develop renewable energy projects to be funded by the people of Newcastle and surrounds. Participating in Renewable Energy will be a win win for the community and those hosting/buying the energy, providing another way for others to make meaningful and tangible contributions to reducing the impacts of climate change. I love the energy in community energy, I have already made some great friends and had great experiences through our shared passion.

I fear that without a strong Renewable Energy Target investment in the industry will cease and motivation to join together in community renewables will dry up. This will mean that all my colleagues, friends and I have strived for will be mothballed for another government to resurrect one day soon when we start to realise that we need to catch up with the rest of the world.

In the meantime, I will look to continue my passion by moving overseas where investment in wind farms and solar is seeing no end, where more future looking governments (on both sides of politics) value the opportunities of transitioning their energy industries to more secure and sustainable forms. Leaving Australia would be hard. I love my life here, my family, my home and my community. Although I would not be alone as I know many in my industry are likely to do the same.

My hope instead is that you, as an expert, consider not just the bottom line, the numbers and facts that can be twisted and turned inside out to make a case for political purpose, but you consider the opportunity to pave a strong and secure future with solar and wind and new renewable innovations creating energy for me and all Australians for generations to come.

My best for your review and thank you for your consideration, Sincerely,

Daniel MacDonald