Aug 23 2010
Australia plans to construct the biggest wind park in the region of the southern hemisphere by the year 2013, in an effort to combat climate change as well as make use of its rich clean energy resources such as waves, solar, wind, bioenergy and geothermal energy.
Currently, renewable energy supplies only 6% of energy in Australia, as the nation has historically failed to pursue large renewable energy projects. However, Australia has started to address this problem. In June 2010, the nation allocated $18 billion (AUD20 billion) meant for renewable energy technologies by the year 2020 and are likely to generate 28,000 novel jobs.
In August 2010, Meridian Energy and A.G.L. Energy announced plans to construct a wind park in Macarthur, Victoria in Australia. This park, consisting of 140 wind turbines, would be the biggest wind park in the southern hemisphere, producing sufficient energy for 220,000 homes as well as combating greenhouse gases to the extent of 1.7 million tons annually, equal to removing 420,000 cars from the road.
As per the Renewables Global Status Report meant for 2009, in recent years, many countries have increased their investments in renewable energies, with around $190 billion spent in 2008 in clean energy. The number of big solar power plants increased three-fold to 1,800 during 2007 – 2008, with most of the novel power plants in the Czech Republic, South Korea, Portugal, Italy, Germany, France and Spain.