Growing Tasmania's renewable energy sector will require both traditional and modern skills. While Tasmania's Renewable Energy Workforce Development Plan is still under development, national studies like the Climate Council's "Renewable Energy Jobs in Australia" report earlier this year have shown that a range of skills will be required - from admin staff and drivers to tradies and electrical engineers. The renewable energy sector will also be home to some [...]

The Future Energy Hub and Cradle Coast Authority made a submission earlier this year in response to Tasmania's draft Renewable Energy Action Plan. Some main points from the submission included: - Engaging with our Member Councils in a timely manner, to ensure they are well placed to derive maximum financial and other benefits from renewable energy proponents, on behalf of their communities. - Developing a strategic approach to prioritise unlocking [...]

The National Electricity Market (NEM) is changing from "peak" and "off-peak" periods being determined by electricity demand, to when electricity is generated. As more massive coal fired power station are retired in the coming years, a system that was developed with base loads (mostly coal) and peak loads (mostly gas) responding to network demand, will become dominated by use-it-or-lose-it variable renewable energy (solar and wind) and storage (pumped hydro and [...]

Granville Harbour Wind Farm reached a massive milestone this week, installing the last of their 31 turbines. Further testing and commissioning work will be undertaken in preparation for the wind farm reaching full generation capacity, as the site is demobilised and rehabilitated back to its original condition as a pristine beef cattle farm. The 112 MW wind farm is expected to reach completion by the end of the year, generating [...]

Just how big are Tasmania's potential pumped hydro sites? Let's compare them to Tesla Powerwall 2's. In 2019, Hydro Tasmania completed prefeasibility studies into fourteen potential Tasmanian pumped hydro energy storage projects. Incredibly, eight of these sites were found to be suitable to proceed to feasibility studies at some stage. With our extensive hydroelectric network, Tasmania is spoilt for choice! Investigations have continued at the most promising three sites (Lake [...]

Clean Energy Open Day is this Sunday, the 25th of October. This year the national event has gone online, so you can do virtual tours of solar and wind farms here Luckily for us in Tasmania, there are still plenty of ways to see how renewable energy is produced. You can take a tour of Hydro Tasmania's Lake Margaret Power Station near Queenstown, or head to Waddamana Power Station Heritage [...]

The first step in the environmental, land-use planning and heritage impact assessment and approvals process for the North West Transmission Developments is now underway. TasNetworks has submitted a referral under the Commonwealth Environmental Protection, Biodiversity and Conservation Act 1999 for the Staverton to Hampshire Hills transmission line. The application is now open for public comment. Proposed transmission developments for North West Tasmania include upgrades to existing transmission lines and development [...]

Two new funding programs have been made available under Energising Tasmania, a $16.1 million federal funding commitment with the output of a Tasmanian workforce better equipped with the priority skills necessary to build Tasmania's capability in the renewable energy and related sectors, and to support the Battery of the Nation initiative. The new funding programs are: - The Energy and Infrastructure Workforce Development Fund, which is available to industry associations, [...]

The world leading Tasmanian Renewable Energy Target (TRET) has been tabled in parliament. Yesterday, the Energy Co-ordination and Planning Amendment (Tasmanian Renewable Energy Target) Bill 2020 was tabled. This Act will modify the Energy Co-ordination and Planning Act 1995 to include a target of 15,750 GWh of renewable energy generation by 2030, and 21,000 GWh by 2040. With the current target of 10,500 GWh by 2022 (100% of Tasmania's requirements) [...]

Granville Harbour Wind Farm has announced the successful applicants for this year's round of their Community Grants Program. Eight West Coast grassroots projects that make a real difference to the local community will receive funds to continue with their much-needed services. This year's successful applicants were: - Zeehan Neighbourhood Centre - Zeehan Lions Club - Granville Harbour Community Coast Care - Zeehan Mens Shed - Zeehan RSL Tasmania Inc - [...]