The wind industry is environmentally responsible and provides a source of renewable electricity generation that produces no air pollution.

Economically, the industry has great potential in providing long term careers as well as employment opportunities for regional and local communities during construction.

Given that the australian government has announced its plan for an 80% reduction in carbon pollution levels by 2050, wind power will play a significant role in reducing the emissions intensity of australia's electricity generation sector.

European countries including Germany, Spain and Denmark have already taken the lead in developing their wind industries. Whilst Australia is a vast country and has an excellent wind resources, it is yet to secure its place as a leader in the global wind industry because electricity prices in Australia are amongst the cheapest in the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries. This is due to our reliance on cheap and abundant reserves of coal where the externalities caused by their pollution are not factored into the electricity price.

In the absence of a price on pollution, the promotion of large scale renewable generation with appropriate federal targets, as well as technological improvements in wind turbines and the economies of scale brought about by larger wind farms will see wind compete more effectively with fossil fueled power stations.

MRET was originally legislated by the Australian Government in 2000 and commenced operation in April 2001. This legislation mandates annual targets of renewable electricity production for Australia which is imposed upon electricity retailers and large users of electricity. These retailers and large energy users must then purchase certificates created by eligible sources of generation to acquit their annual liabilities. Eligible generation sources included wind, hydro, photovoltaics, solar thermal, biomass and other renewable technologies.

The MRET targets were subsequently increased in 2009 such that by 2020 the annual target is expected to be around 20% of Australia's annual electricity production. This level, which is approximately 45 TeraWatt hours per year will be maintained until 2030. This target's integrity had been compromised by the inclusion of solar hot water heaters and small scale rooftop photovoltaics that had flooded the market with certificates because of the number of certificates that were created by additional multipliers or by deemed production of as much as 15 years into the future. This was issue identified by the industry and government such that changes were implemented in 2011 that segregated large scale renewable projects that will provide the majority of genuine renewable electricity production to achieve the 2020 target.

For more information refer to the Office of the Renewable Energy regulator's website ( www.orer.gov.au )