Coalition government cripples renewable energy
Renewable energy industry’s uncertain future under Coalition government The Australian Financial Review JOANNA HEATH, 3 MAR 15
Whether a resolution of the uncertainty that has crippled the renewable energy industry of late is closer or further away than it was a month ago depends on who you ask.
On February 26, Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane made the surprising announcement through a media interview that he was prepared to drop the government’s plans to make changes to the original 2009, 41,000 gigawatt hour target altogether if the clean energy industry rejected the government’s latest compromise offer……..
On the face of it, it seems a victory –the renewable energy industry has always argued there is no need to change the status quo target which runs out in 2020.Not so fast. The Clean Energy Council says it in fact had not received any formal offer from the government for a new deal, and in any case would not accept the low-mid 30,000 gigawatt hour target the government was proposing.
But it is not happy with the government just dropping the whole thing and walking away either. It says given the damage that has been done in the last 12 months or so, some kind of bipartisan agreement on a continued, untouched target was needed to restore confidence………
Kane Thornton, chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, says more has to be done to fix the situation than for the government to “just walk away and leave it”.
“Investment in the clean energy industry is frozen due to the uncertainty generated by this review,” Mr Thornton said.
“The industry needs both sides of politics to reach a bipartisan agreement to provide long-term certainty, not to be left stranded. Without that bipartisanship the investment freeze will continue.”
The situation facing the renewable energy industry is indeed dire……..
Both parties pledged to relaunch talks in the new year. There has been one meeting so far with none further planned, and the situation appears to have once again reached stalemate. The most likely, and probably unfortunate, outcome is the target will be left alone by the government until 2020 but the issue is not resolved in the kind of definitive way required to bring confidence back to the market………….. http://www.afr.com/p/business/resources/renewable_energy_industry_uncertain_hV8xTeUOAwbl5MPKJCRCqK
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