In a testament to possibly the only bipartisan piece of energy policy that is working Australia’s 2020 Large-scale Renewable Energy Target (LRET) has officially been met, delivering dozens of wind and solar projects along the way and taking the country closer to a clean energy future.
The conservative Liberal-National government had previously indicated that 6400 megawatts of large-scale renewable capacity had to be built between 2017 and 2019 to generate sufficient electricity to meet the target of having 33,000 gigawatt hours (GW/h) of additional energy by next year.
Clean Energy Regulator chair David Parker said that milestone was met ahead of schedule last week after the approval of four large wind and solar power stations, with a combined capacity of 406 megawatts (MW).
“It is now certain Australia will generate enough renewable energy to meet the 2020 large-scale renewable energy target,” Mr Parker said.
“This achievement represents the hard work of a growing and dynamic renewable energy industry.”
The approval of the 148.5MW Cattle Hill Wind Farm, owned by Goldwind and partners, saw the milestone surpassed.
The Cattle Hill Wind Farm is built on the hills above Waddamana Power Station, Tasmania’s first hydro scheme that was opened in 1916.
Also of interest, the first large power station commissioned in 2017 was Goldwind’s 175MW White Rock Wind Farm in New South Wales.
Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor downplayed his government’s usual disinterest in renewable energy saying the government was supporting record investment in renewable energy.
“In 2018, Australia led the world in clean energy investment, with more than double the per-capita investment of countries like France, Germany and the United Kingdom,” Mr Taylor said.
“With the renewable energy target set to be exceeded, investment is not slowing down.”
The regulator said the large-scale renewable energy target would continue to provide a framework for ongoing renewable energy investment.
The Clean Energy Council (CEC), which represents the renewable energy industry in Australia, said meeting the large-scale renewable energy target had been a “massive effort for the clean energy industry for close to two decades”.
“It shows what is possible when our major political parties agree to put aside their differences and work together to achieve a shared, ambitious goal,” CEC chief executive Kane Thornton said.
“The RET is the most successful emissions reduction policy of all time for Australia’s electricity system.
“The RET has been one of the bright spots which is making our electricity system cleaner, cheaper and more reliable.”
The policy was a world first when introduced by then Liberal Prime Minister John Howard in 2001 and was later adopted by more than 100 countries, Mr Thornton said.
The Labor government of then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd expanded the scheme in 2009.
“The policy has delivered dozens of wind and solar farms this decade, along with tens of thousands of jobs for people in regional parts of the country and tens of billions of dollars in project investment which have created many new economic opportunities in the Australian economy,” Mr Thornton said.
“With the news that the industry will far exceed the target, the question should now turn to what comes next.
“The industry doesn’t need new subsidy, we just need certainty, renewable energy can continue to create opportunities for regional parts of the country for many decades with the right policies in place,” he added.
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One Response
Great achievement. But all state and federal governments urgently have to get off their collective backsides and build the delivery, battery storage and interchange infrastructure so that the renewable energy can be seamlessly integrated into the supply grid. Without this action, its just som much wasted effort.