Reports the Turnbull Government intends to proceed in ripping $1 billion from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) have again been met with strong opposition.
It appears the Government will take action soon after Parliament returns on Monday.
The plan was originally hatched in March, with the announcement of a “new” $1 billion Clean Energy Innovation Fund (CEIF) to be run by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and ARENA. However, the $1 billion wasn’t new money – it was to come from ARENA’s kitty.
At the time, the Clean Energy Council (CEC) suggested the Turnbull Government was giving with one hand while taking from the other and the nature of the change would leave little in the coffers for ARENA to provide capital grants for innovative new clean energy projects. The plan was met with other similar criticism.
The attempt to strip ARENA of funds potentially soon going ahead has again stirred up a hornet’s nest.
Calling such a plan reckless, foolish and short-sighted, Solar Citizens says ARENA plays a crucial role in Australia’s energy transition.
“It is hard to believe that, yet again, the very organisations that will drive our future prosperity are in the crosshairs of this Government,” said Claire O’Rourke, National Director of Solar Citizens.
“Slashing and burning ARENA will see Australia miss out on its rightful share of the $800b global renewable energy investment boom, and we will miss out on all of the accompanying jobs, growth and investment.”
The Greens have also come out swinging – not just in relation to the government, but also Labor; which they accuse of refusing to commit to blocking the move.
“Labor is failing dismally to match its clean-energy rhetoric with action and instead is set to buddy up with the Coalition on clean-energy cuts as the first order of business as soon as Parliament returns,” said Senator Larissa Waters.
“Instead of going backwards on clean-energy funding we should be investing more and a good place to find the revenue is by cutting the tens of billions in subsidies that the fossil fuel companies receive.”
ARENA supports activities that have the best chance of success and looks for at least matched funding and co-investment. The body says each dollar of ARENA funding has leveraged approximately 1.5 dollars of funding from other sources. An example of an activity is the Karratha Airport solar project, which incorporates cutting-edge Cloud Predictive Technology (CPT).
