The Clean Energy Council has detailed the massive impact stripping grant funding from ARENA would have across Australia’s clean energy sector in a new report.
“While we understand the government is looking for savings, slashing grant funding for renewable energy massively undermines the industry’s efforts to meet our national emissions reduction targets, as well as the 2020 Renewable Energy Target (RET) and beyond,” said Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Kane Thornton.
The success of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency isn’t just tree-hugging warm and fuzzies – nor is that its main purpose.
“The cost reductions we have seen already in Australia, in large-scale solar for example, have been remarkable. Every dollar spent by ARENA has helped to leverage private sector finance, and will deliver greater value for the energy sector in years to come,” stated Mr. Thornton.
In August 2013 a winning bid of $186 per megawatt-hour (MWh) for large scale solar was considered highly competitive. That has dropped to an estimated $110/MWh as of mid-2016. With further support from ARENA, costs associated with large-scale solar PV could be competitive with wind farms as early as 2018.
In addition to cost reductions stalling, if legislation to de-fund ARENA passes, other knock-on effects include:
- Investment in Australia research and development could die.
- Future renewable energy targets will be more difficult and costly to meet
- The situation will again scare foreign investors, such as what occurred during the period when Australia’s Renewable Energy Target was in limbo
- Challenges integrating renewables into a smarter and cleaner energy system would remain
- Local supply chains, manufacturing and skills bases will be lost and expensive to redevelop
Nicky Ison and Chris Dunstan from the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney summed up the gravity of the situation well yesterday.
“To paraphrase former Harvard University president Derek Bok, if you think research is expensive, try ignorance.”
The CEC’s paper, “The Impact Of Defunding ARENA : Plunging Into the Clean Energy Valley of Death” can be viewed in full here (PDF).
In other related news, dozens of researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra will lose their jobs if cuts to ARENA go ahead says renewable energy pioneer, Professor Andrew Blakers.
As mentioned yesterday, Australians have been urged to signal their support for ARENA by writing to the Federal Government, an action made simple through Solar Citizen’ online platform.
