Monday, December 5

Tapping Into the Jungle

SYDNEY—Lawmakers in Townsville in the windswept far north of Queensland, nicknamed the Sunshine State, dream of transforming their mining town into one of the world's newest renewable-energy hubs.

But their vision doesn't involve solar panels or wind turbines.

Instead they are backing a bold plan by Origin Energy Ltd., Australia's biggest utility, to power light bulbs in Queensland by harnessing energy from a river more than 600 miles away in the jungle of Papua New Guinea.

"The project has the potential to power two million homes by 2020. That's incredibly exciting stuff," says Mandy Johnstone, who represents Townsville in Australia's Parliament.

"North Queensland is such a limitless playground when it comes to future mining and renewable industry prospects, but so much of that potential growth is simply out of reach because of the power limitations we face," Ms. Johnstone says.


Wall Street Journal

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