Annolies Truman
Speaking on ABC Radio National's Perspective program on April 12, Greenpeace Australia Pacific spokesperson Tim Hollo said that Australia's export of renewable energy technology to China "holds far greater prospects than uranium for both increasing export dollars and reducing greenhouse pollution".
The same day as the Australian uranium deal with China was made, "a joint enterprise called Roaring Forties, involving Hydro Tasmania, signed a A$300 million deal to build three 50MW wind farms in eastern China", Hollo said, a news item that received little media coverage.
China is currently dependent on fossil fuels, with coal accounting for 75% of its energy needs. It is also the world's second-largest oil consumer.
However, the recently passed Chinese Renewable Energy Law requires China to produce 15% of energy from renewable sources by 2020. Accordingly, China plans to expand its wind industry to 30,000MW.
Hollo said that even if Australia's total uranium exports to China doubled to around $800 million a year, the total earnings would be equivalent to less than three individual wind contracts. He said that there is potential for 200 such contracts, as well as for tapping China's plans for photovoltaic solar power.
According to Hollo, "Nuclear power takes decades to install and could only ever contribute a small proportion of global energy supply ... It would create a whole new environmental and security nightmare."
"Contrary to the rhetoric of coal and uranium corporations, many ... renewable energy sources can and do already provide steady and strong base-load power. Many are cheaper than nuclear power and some are already cheaper than coal once you factor in the costs of coal's favoured solution — burying its greenhouse pollution."
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, April 26, 2006.
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