7th Feb 2007, 4:00 PM – Senate Motions - Wind Energy - Increase Mandatory Renewable Energy Target

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Democrats Senator Lyn Allison. This means that the motion was unsuccessful. The motion was:

That the Senate: (a) notes that: (i) the World Wind Association has reported that the global installed capacity of wind energy at the end of December 2006 was 73 904 MW, (ii) based on the accelerated wind development in 2006, the World Wind Energy Association has increased its prediction for 2010 and now expects 160 000 MW to be installed by the end of 2010, (iii) the wind industry worldwide between 1997 and 2006 experienced a tenfold increase in installed capacity worldwide, (iv) the currently installed wind power capacity generates more than 1 per cent of global electricity consumption, (v) Germany has the highest proportion of installed capacity, where 5 per cent of electricity consumption is from wind, while Denmark’s is as high as 20 per cent,(Read more about the wind power in Germany here and wind power in Denmark here. ) and (vi) this compares to wind energy in Australia in 2006 representing only 0.5 per cent of Australia’s electricity consumption;(Read more about wind power in Australia here.) and (b) calls on the Government to increase and extend the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target to support wind energy and other renewable technologies in order to meet with world minimum practice and to strive to world best practice.

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