Wind Energy in Australia
The world has never been short of wind. For thousands of years it has turned windmills, flown kites, cooled houses and filled sails. Now, technological advances are breathing new life into our use of wind power as a clean, renewable, cost-effective means of generating electricity. Over the last few decades, wind power has rarely been used as means of generating electricity. In 1996, the worldwide capacity of wind turbines was approximately 6 gigawatts, contributing less than 1 percent to the total global electrical generation capacity. However, the wind energy industry is continually growing at a rapid rate. Much of the growth is in European countries such as Holland, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Germany. Denmark, for example, currently obtains about 5 percent of its electricity from wind turbines and aims to increase this to 40 percent by 2030. Interest in wind power is also rapidly growing in countries such as India and China, while Australia is also beginning to pay increasing attention to the concept. Renewable energy (such as wind energy) currently provides about 10.5 percent of Australia's electricity generation. Still, Australia has plans for further supply
Australian Cabinet has also has endorsed a $900-million measure to facilitate a greener Australia in the 21st century. This wind farm will cost $45 million, and will begin production by next July. Secondly, advances in wind power science and technology are reducing the cost of wind power rapidly, making it almost competitive with many other energy sources (at about 8 to 10 cents per kilowatt hour). WHY THE RECENT INTEREST?There are probably two main reasons for the increasing interest in wind power. Continued use of this clean energy provider will result in the elimination of pollution omitted by other energy production methods. It will contain 12 turbines on 65 meter towers producing a collective 22 megawatts of power. First, most electricity generated today uses non-renewable fuels such as coal, oil and gas. The current locations and specifications for other large turbine installations (and planned installations) within Australia can be seen in the table on the next page. Also, since wind is a renewable resource, it can not 'run out', so eliminating the possibility of the electrical industry being forced to discover and utilize a new energy source. 4 percent of the world's total energy-related carbon emissions in 1998, the capacity of Australia's forests and agricultural lands to absorb carbon dioxide places the country in the center of any discussions regarding environmental effects. The world has long been searching for a non-polluting, renewable source of energy that is as inexpensive as coal and oil, and wind energy seems to provide this. However, Australia's biggest wind-powered electricity generating system is to be built by state-owned utility Western Power near Albany in Western Australia.
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