Antinuclear

Labor, Coalition agree on new renewable energy target

Renewable energy sector welcomes bipartisan RET deal, debate rages over burning of wood waste, ABC Radio 19 May 15 By Peta Donald The renewable energy sector has welcomed a bipartisan deal over the Renewable Energy Target (RET), saying it clears the way for billions of dollars of investment in energy from sources like the wind and the Sun.

The Federal Government and Labor yesterday agreed to lower the RET from 41,000 gigawatt hours to 33,000, to fully exempt trade-exposed industries from the target and to scrap the two-yearly reviews which threatened to derail the deal.

Instead, the Clean Energy Regulator will provide an annual statement to Parliament and the government of the day on progress towards the target, what impact it is having on electricity prices, and whether the scheme is at risk of default.

The Government could bring legislation for the new target to the Parliament as early as next week, which means more than 23 per cent of Australia’s power would come from renewable sources in five years.

Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton said the deal would unlock up to $10 billion worth of investment, mainly in wind farms and some large-scale solar projects.

“Australia’s potential in renewable energy is massive,” he said.

“And that’s because we have some of the best wind, some of the best sunshine anywhere in the world and that means Australia is a great place to invest.

“It’s been a challenging period with all of the uncertainty about the renewable energy target, but with that now hopefully coming to a close there’s a massive opportunity for Australia.”

Debate over burning of wood waste

While the Government dumped its last-minute attempt to have the target reviewed every two years to secure Labor’s support, it refused to budge on wanting to include the burning of wood waste as a renewable source of fuel.

The move is opposed by Labor and the Greens but has some crossbench support, and Ross Hampton from the Australian Forest Products Association said the off-cuts they wanted to burn were renewable……..

Mr Thornton said even if the Government did get enough support for wood waste to be included as renewable, the Clean Energy Council did not think it would compete well enough with wind and solar to account for much of the target.

“We know there are quite a few challenges for this type of generation and a very limited number of projects that have been actively explored,” he said.

“And so overall we don’t think that it would take up any material amount of the overall renewable energy target.”http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-19/renewable-energy-sector-welcomes-bipartisan-ret-deal/6479600

May 20, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy, politics