Antinuclear

Uncertainty over Renewable Energy Target puts large solar farm in doubt

First Solar reconsiders Australian investments amid ‘uncertainty’ over Renewable Energy Target, ABC News, By environment reporter Jake Sturmer The company building the southern hemisphere’s largest solar plant says it is reconsidering future investments in Australia because of uncertainty about the Government’s Renewable Energy Target.

Multinational solar panel maker First Solar is building a $450 million plant in the far west of New South Wales for energy provider AGL.

It would be enough to power 50,000 homes, the company said.

First Solar’s vice-president of business development, Jack Curtis, says a lot has changed in the eight months since the former federal government announced the project.

“Those projects … reached financial close in a different political and business environment which was almost a year ago now,” Mr Curtis said. “That’s obviously changed quite dramatically since the election. There’s now a much greater deal of uncertainty around future projects like this.”

Mr Curtis says this is partly due to the Coalition Government’s review of the Renewable Energy Target (RET), which currently aims to have 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity generated by clean energy sources by 2020……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-08/solar-company-reconsiders-investment-in-australia/5373664

April 7, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | General News