The 2018 Federal Budget energy funding includes $37.6 million towards energy policy. The Turnbull Government declared that the funding, which will be rolled out over five years, focuses on delivering more affordable, reliable and sustainable energy across Australia.
The funds will commence with an immediate injection of $7.6 million, and $13.4 million in the financial year of 2018-19. Follow-up funds in succeeding years includes $11.1 in 2019-20, $3.8 million in 2020-21, and $1.8 million in 2021-22.
Budget fails to tackle climate change
But the Budget fails to provide any new funding for tackling climate change, says the Climate Council.
Dr Martin Rice, acting CEO of the Council, expressed disappointment at the lack of new funding for tackling climate change.
While there is $500 million in the pipeline for the Great Barrier Reef, Dr Rice described it as a “gold-plated bandaid solution” that does not address the root cause of the problem.
He said Australia needs to commit to a credible climate and energy policy, one that would offer strong support for the transition to affordable and reliable energy and storage technology.
2018 Federal Budget energy funding
The Budget has several aims regarding energy. These include implementing recommendations by the 2017 Finkel review. The Finkel review outlined measures to reduce emissions while improving reliability of supply.
One of the recommended strategies is to increase the use of energy battery storage, similar to that of the Tesla Powerpack in South Australia.
This would improve energy security by dispatching renewable energy quickly when required.
The Budget also aims to give energy customers better deals, potentially saving up to $400 a year on power bills by boosting energy data collection.
National Energy Guarantee a feature of energy policy
The Budget supports COAG on energy transformation and transition to the new energy market. COAG recognises that the energy market is becoming increasingly decentralised.
It supports the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) and increased consumer protections in the new market. COAG’s energy market transformation project team also initiated a national register for ‘distributed energy resources’ such as solar batteries.
Improvements will also be made to the gas market. This includes gas market rule changes, pipeline regulation, and improving the transparency of the east coast gas market to increase competition and reduce prices.
