Yet another Renewable Energy Target review has kicked off in Australia. Enough already, says the nation’s Clean Energy Council.
The Warburton Review, which cost Australian taxpayers a bundle of cash and is rumoured to have been binned, is being followed up with another – this one by the Climate Change Authority (CCA).
The CCA states:
“The Climate Change Authority is proceeding with its statutory review of the Renewable Energy Target, which must be completed by 31 December 2014. The Review will have regard to the task of reducing electricity sector emissions, as part of cost-effective reductions in Australia’s national emissions in the period to 2020 and beyond.”
The CCA version was meant to be the “official” review, but the Federal Government gave the job to its own hand-picked panel; perhaps thinking the CCA would be out of the way by now (and it wasn’t through a lack of trying on the Government’s part). T
The CCA is obliged to proceed with its own review – so here we go again.
The Clean Energy Council appears less than happy with the situation. It has called for an end to ongoing reviews of the RET and for the ditching of future legislated reviews.
“As an increasingly competitive industry we are happy to be critically reviewed, but this is getting ridiculous. The third review in two years is now underway,” said Clean Energy Council Acting Chief Executive Kane Thornton.
Mr. Thornton said no business should be expected to operate under the conditions that Australia’s renewable energy industry has endured.
“We are seeing major international investors turn their backs on Australia in favour of more receptive investment environments elsewhere,” he said. “Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Australia is open for business. But the massive investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector are going begging due to the lack of long-term policy stability.
Billions of dollars of investment cash could be unlocked with clear, consistent and favourable signals – an estimated $14.5 billion could flow into large scale generation investments alone says the CEC; along with tens of thousands of associated jobs.
