<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/23/albanese-government-to-rapidly-expand-investment-scheme-for-clean-energy-projects>
"The Albanese government will radically expand a taxpayer-underwritten scheme
to support new clean power generation and storage capacity, acknowledging it is
needed to meet its objective of Australia running on 82% renewable energy by
2030.
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, will confirm the expansion
of the capacity investment scheme on Thursday after officials advised the
government further intervention was needed to meet the electricity target and
firm the grid as ageing coal plants retire.
Bowen said the government would underwrite 32 gigawatts of new electricity,
consisting of 9GW of storage and 23GW of variable renewable generation. Fossil
fuels, including gas-fired power, will not be eligible.
The government’s goal is to de-risk clean energy investments and shield
consumers from price volatility during a transition to net zero emissions.
It follows evidence that investment in large-scale solar and windfarms has
fallen significantly this year. The Clean Energy Council has warned the first
half of 2023 was the slowest start to a year for financial commitments on major
clean energy developments since 2017.
Analysts say while solar and wind are the cheapest forms of new energy
generation, farms will not be built at the pace required to meet the 82% target
and live up to climate commitments without additional policy support. The
government has also faced pressure to respond to the US Inflation Reduction
Act, which included A$560bn support for clean energy and has escalated global
competition for climate-focused investment.
It is unclear how much the capacity investment scheme, which will effectively
replace the federal renewable energy target, will cost between now and 2030, or
how much revenue is expected to be raised."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
