Federal budgets can be a nail-biting time for the Australian renewable energy industry, but there were no major surprises in Budget 2012 announcements.
Confirming rumours swirling the last couple of days, the Tax Breaks for Green Buildings Program has been axed – saving $405 million over four years.
Part of the 2010 Government election commitment, the program was to cover specified expenditure incurred as part of a qualifying retrofit of an existing office building, hotel or shopping centre to improve energy efficiency.
Funding for commercial building retrofits will instead be made available via the Low Carbon Australia fund and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
$48 million of expenditure for the Connecting Renewables to the Grid program has been pushed out to 2018-19 and 2019-20 says Business Spectator’s Rob Burgess, who commented “The Greens will be on the warpath over that one.”
There had been speculation the government would slash some subsidies for fossil fuels, which may have provided an indirect boost for renewables – particularly if the diesel fuel rebate was further reduced – however, this did not eventuate.
The controversial Carbon Capture and Storage Flagships program will be provided increased funding over forward estimates, jumping from $35 million to $65 million.
While no new funding specifically for renewable energy was announced, $5 million has been allocated over four years to further work on reforming Australia’s energy market and it was announced non-transport uses of natural gas-derived fuels will be brought under the carbon price mechanism according to initial budget notes provided by the Clean Energy Council (CEC).
Elsewhere on the energy efficiency front, $37.1 million in funding over four years will see a nationally-consistent legislative framework to regulate the energy efficiency of equipment and appliances. $2.8 million in additional funding will be spent on a range of building energy efficiency activities.
