Wind power in Australia

This paper reviews the present status of wind power in Australia, the barriers to its further development, and the policies needed for overcoming those barriers. Unlike bioenergy or solar electricity, wind power does not need significant funding for R, D and D in Australia, but rather needs market/industry development policies. The major barrier is the political power of the coal and nuclear industries and NIMBY groups, which have disseminated exaggerated and misleading claims about the environmental impacts and alleged technological limitations of wind power, fostering opposition to wind power by the Federal Government. This paper examines critically one of the main claims, the fallacy that wind power, as a so-called 'intermittent' source, cannot be used to substitute for base-load power from coal. Continued expansion of the wind industry in Australia would need an extension of the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target, reinforced by the implementation of a carbon tax or emission permits with cap and trade.