Is the renewable energy crisis over?

Legislation for a bipartisan deal has passed through the Australian Parliament this week providing much needed certainty for the clean energy sector.

The deal on the Renewable Energy Target (RET) will “open the way” for Australia to unlock the massive potential for renewable energy investment and jobs over the next decade, according to the Clean Energy Council.

The council’s chief executive, Kane Thornton, said the return to bipartisanship was the critical factor that would allow investment to resume and for major renewable energy projects to move forward.

“While this has been a challenging process, and we are disappointed by the level of reduction of the target for large-scale renewable energy, the passage of this legislation provides the platform for a doubling of renewables over the next five years,” Thornton said.

“The legislation also removes the two-yearly reviews of the scheme and ensures no changes to the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme, which is great news for thousands of people working in the rooftop solar and solar hot water sectors.”

Thornton said the council had fought for a resolution of the review for 18 months and hopes to see between 30–50 major renewable energy projects, and hundreds of medium-sized projects, to be built over the next five years.

“This legislation will lead to more than $40 billion of investment and the creation of 15,200 jobs over the life of the RET,” he said.

“Importantly, it will also protect the livelihoods of the 20,000 Australians directly employed by the renewable energy industry, whose jobs have been under a cloud for the last 18 months.”

The final negotiation to secure passage of this deal through the Senate involved a government commitment to a range of initiatives and measures relating to the regulation of the wind sector and promotion of the solar sector.

“We are disappointed about moves to introduce further red tape on the wind sector, given the stringent and robust regulatory framework already in place for wind energy in Australia,” Thornton said.

“The industry will, however, work closely with the government to ensure these measures genuinely improve the regulatory framework and are developed based on credible scientific research by independent expert bodies.

“This commitment also includes a range of welcome initiatives to further support and promote solar power in Australia, and we look forward to working with the government on these initiatives,” he added.