Clean energy projects announced

A $125 MILLION investment in two Victorian energy projects would help cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions, the federal government said today.
Treasurer Peter Costello and Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane today announced the first two projects under the $500 million low emissions technology demonstration fund (LETDF).
The first is a $75 million grant for a $420 million large-scale solar concentrator in northwestern Victoria to be built by Melbourne-based Solar Systems Pty Ltd.
The project will start in 2008 and reach full capacity by 2013.
The second grant is $50 million towards a $360 million pilot for a brown-coal drying and a post-combustion carbon dioxide capture and storage project at the International Powers' Hazelwood facility in Gippsland.
Construction is to begin early next year with the project to be completed by the end of 2009.
Both projects also received funding from the Victorian Government.
Mr Costello said the energy sector had been instrumental in Australia's economic success and ensuring it was environmentally sustainable in long-term was a key factor in the Government's climate change strategy.
"Technological improvements will be instrumental in delivering large-scale reductions in emissions both in Australia and throughout the rest of the world," Mr Costello said.
Mr Costello later said Australia would meet its Kyoto protocol greenhouse emissions targets even though it would not ratify the agreement.
He said he accepted the scientific evidence on global warming and "that it is caused by carbon emissions, that restraining the increase in carbon emissions will counteract that process of global warming and that we should play our part".
But Mr Costello said Australia produced only a small percentage of greenhouse emissions compared to China.
"You will never do anything internationally or globally unless you bring developing countries into this program, in particular countries like China and India."
Mr Costello signalled more announcements about the LETDF in coming weeks.
Opposition resources spokesman Martin Ferguson said the Government had finally decided to follow the lead of the Labor Party.
"We have to act on the issue of energy and obviously with a heavy reliance on coal, especially the difficulties of brown coal in Victoria, you have to invest in clean coal technology," he said on ABC radio.
"The initiative today, a joint initiative of Victorian Labor and the Howard government, is about trying to finally make some progress."
ACF executive director Don Henry said the solar project, tipped to be the largest of its kind in the world, showed solar could be a serious player in the alternative energy mix.
"But the truth is, in our fight to tackle climate change, this is a small first step when we really need a huge leap forward," he said on ABC radio.
"For example, our governments could require and assist us all to have solar hot water on every roof.
"That's the equivalent of a brand new power station being built in Australia."
Mr Henry said that to actually reduce emissions in a serious way, the announcements totalled a small drop in the ocean of what was needed.
Greenpeace spokesman Danny Kennedy said the Government was starting to bow to growing public pressure and concern about climate change with today's announcement.
"The proposed $400 million Solar Systems plant is a step in the right direction but what is needed most is long-term signals and structural changes, not one-off announcements," he said.
"If the federal Government's strategy is to lay out a series of LETDF announcements from now to the election, it is a thinly disguised attempt to avoid the real action that is needed - moving Australia away from polluting coal."