Antinuclear

Investors attracted to Australia because of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation

“The latest analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) indicates that new wind power projects in Australia are as much as 18% and 14% cheaper than new gas and oil plants respectively,”

CEFC boosting investor interest in Australian renewables: report REneweconomy, By Sophie Vorrath  30 May 2013Investment in renewable energy projects in Australia has become more appealing since the establishment of the federal government’s $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation, according to the latest edition of Ernst & Young’s Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index.

The index, released this week, ranks Australia’s ‘attractiveness’ in the global renewables investment market – a market it says is expected to be worth $US630 billion a year by 2030 – in fourth place, below the US, China and Germany (in first, second and third positions, respectively) and ahead of the UK, Japan, Canada, India, France and Belgium.

The report accompanying the index says that high levels of project activity and investment interest in Australia, as well as Japan, are giving the Asia Pacific region a strong market presence, and points to the CEFC – the investment vehicle established as part of the federal government’s carbon pricing package, with $10 billion to allocate over a five year period to renewable energy, energy efficiency and low emissions projects – as a key driver of this trend.

“Australia is attracting admiring glances from investors eager for a slice of its new $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corp, which will start issuing loans in July 2013,” the report says.

Indeed, as CEFC CEO Oliver Yates told RenewEconomy this week, the agency has already attracted interest from more than 150 projects with a total capital cost of more than $10.5 billion in its first two months of operation………

As the Ernst & Young report notes, the “gray cloud” created by Australia’s carbon policy uncertainty “is not dampening the spirits of investors…  who, on the contrary, are showing an ever-increasing appetite for wind and solar projects down under……..

The report also points to the Australian Climate Authority’s recent recommendation to leave Australia’s renewable energy target unchanged, and analysis suggesting grid parity has been achieved for new wind projects, as other contributing factors boosting Australia’s renewables attractiveness.

“The latest analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) indicates that new wind power projects in Australia are as much as 18% and 14% cheaper than new gas and oil plants respectively,” it says…… http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/cefc-boosting-investor-interest-in-australian-renewables-report-13952

May 31, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, business, energy