 
Return to Media Centre
Media Release
Peter Gutwein MP
Shadow Minister for Energy
Sunday 14th February 2010
Government must explain why it supports windfarms in SA but not in Musselroe
The Government must explain why a Roaring 40s wind farm project in SA was able to be underwritten by Tasmanian GBE Hydro and achieve financial close, yet the Musselroe windfarm, worth more than $400M, and a key northern project with hundreds of jobs attached to it, has still been unable to achieve financial close.
The Waterloo windfarm in SA, which is of a comparable size to Musselroe, got the go ahead in August last year, apparently because Hydro Tasmania along with its joint venture partner Tru Energy was prepared to purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and hedge electricity prices for the first ten years of production.
The Energy Minister David Llewellyn must explain if Hydro Tasmania has locked into a ten year contract, effectively underwriting a windfarm in SA, whilst a $400M project in Tasmania, which has been on the table for five years now, cannot get off the ground.
This Tuesday evening I will be attending a public meeting that has been called by locals in Gladstone, and I challenge the Energy Minister David Llewellyn to attend and explain why he has been prepared to allow jobs and investment in South Australia to be driven by a Tasmanian Government Business, whilst a key project here in the state cannot get off the ground.
The link below clearly explains that the Labor Government have allowed taxpayers funds to be utilised to build a windfarm in SA, whilst our own Musselroe project grinds to a halt because it cannot achieve financial close.
Return to Media Centre
|
