The Queensland Party Candidate for Cairns D.J.HUNT has called on the Far North to be used as a trial zone for renewable energy sources to power a city.
Mr Hunt said "Recent studies have shown that Queensland is better placed than anywhere else in the world to harness commercially viable solar power generation. It makes sense that this should be located in areas that are going to get the most exposure to the sun to generate a viable and economical power source. As a result of the geographical location that makes Far North Queensland the perfect place to trial this concept”.
Mr Hunt’s statements came after details were released of the report compiled in association with former US president Bill Clinton’s Climate foundation that found Queensland was perfectly positioned to deploy large scale solar plants.
“The Tablelands Regional council for example has already recently given its backing to renewable energy production in the area. There are huge tracts of land in the Tablelands area that are not viable for primary production due to soil, climate, topography etc. that would be perfect for this process. You would be able to power a town the size of Mareeba or Atherton from renewable power and feed the rest back into the grid so that those environmentally minded consumers wanting to pay the extra for green sources of power have a viable option.” Mr Hunt said.
Mr Hunt stated “By conducting scaled trials with proven methods, instead of schemes like those that failed in Cloncurry, it could then be assessed if that location would be sufficient to supply power to a major city like Cairns and how the process can be replicated for other areas. With hydro power generation in the area already the infrastructure costs are reduced because transmission lines etc are already in place.”
“It makes perfect sense for this trial to be conducted in the Far North bringing infrastructure, jobs and a diversified economy to the region which we desperately need." Mr Hunt said