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Australia has one of the highest concentrations of Green Power products on offer anywhere in the world, under innovative programmes which are attracting international attention -- and yet which are still only being utilised by an extremely small proportion of the population.
 One researcher acutely aware of the huge potential for Green Power is ACRE Research Fellow Carrie Sonneborn, of the Institute for Science and Technology Policy at Murdoch University, who has been engaged to carry out a number of strategic planning and market assessment projects for the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Renewable Energy (ACRE).
Researching the feasibility of introducing 'Green Power' energy-usage options to new consumers is just one of a series of projects Ms Sonneborn is undertaking to identify the market-entry mechanisms that will be needed by renewable energy to obtain a substantial share of the electricity-production market.
Green Power is the practice in which electricity supply utilities are able to charge a small premium to customers in return for providing electricity generated using renewable energy sources. Customers can elect to pay more for their electricity under a 'principle of green consumerism' -- which a growing number of electricity supply utilities are now tapping in to.
"Green Power is increasingly recognised as one of the key market mechanisms to emerge from the commercialisation of the electricity industry," said Ms Sonneborn, "which has the potential to move renewable energy into the mainstream.
"I have been talking to some of the utilities which offer these schemes with a view to finding the best way of setting them up at new locations," she said.
"This is still quite a new concept world over and Australia is considered an international leader."
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| Green Power is already available to energy consumers in parts of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, and a few other locations throughout the world. |
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Ms Sonneborn said there are essentially two types of Green Power schemes which have been offered to customers.
"The main type is energy-based -- in which the contribution to the scheme is directly linked to the customer's consumption of electricity.
"In this case customers are charged at a special green price, or tariff.
"The other type of scheme involves a contribution, whereby the customer makes a donation to a fund administered by the scheme operator -- which is then used to build renewable energy generators.
"In this case the contributions are not linked to consumption."
Ms Sonneborn said Green Power has emerged largely in response to the commercialisation of the energy industry and a belief in its ability to help meet global Greenhouse Gas reduction objectives.
Green Power is already available to energy consumers in parts of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, and a few other locations throughout the world including California in the United States.
In the first 12 months after Green Power was introduced in New South Wales in 1997, 10 electricity retailers launched Green Power schemes -- which attracted more than 20,000 domestic consumers.
Ms Sonneborn said she hoped the 'Green Power Evaluation' project would provide valuable insights on the effectiveness of Green Power schemes for industries, governments, energy policy analysts, and consumer and environmental groups.
"The Green Power market has already had an impact on the number of major new renewable energy projects commissioned, under construction or committed," she said.
"New projects include the 0.6MW wind turbine at Newcastle, the 5MW wind farm at Crookwell, 200kW solar PVs in Singleton and two 50kW PV (photovoltaic) systems in Dubbo and Queanbeyan.
"In addition, another 30 to 50MW of new wind, non-flooding hydro and biomass projects are currently in planning stages."
Ms Sonneborn said it was crucial for governments and industry to become committed to Green Power for it to be widely adopted by consumers.
"Long term utility commitment to increasing the use of renewable energy supply will be essential," she said. "Governments can help by signing up for Green Power themselves and by removing other barriers to renewable energy."
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| ACRE Research Fellow Carrie Sonneborn with a solar panel. |
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