Australia’s government and opposition have agreed to set the country's Renewable Energy Target (RET) at 33,000GWh by excluding controversial plans for two-yearly reviews.
The latest agreement comes after a string of RET deals followed by u-turns over the last week. The Labor Party had agreed on the 33,000GWh target, down from the original 41,000GWh target, but turned its back on the deal the next day over the inclusion of a two-yearly review. The party claimed reviews were stifling investment in the sector and the Clean Energy Council expressed “serious concern” over the reviews.
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Today's new deal removes the requirement for biennial reviews, but includes wood waste from native forests in the RET, which the Labor Party opposed last week.
John Grimes, chief executive of the Australian Solar Council, said the government had dropped its “outrageous requirement” for two-yearly reviews under strong pressure from the solar industry.
He added: “As soon as the government worked out it would be holding a review of the RET in an election year – with all the political pain – they had no choice but to stop their disastrous push for two-yearly reviews.”
However, even though Grimes said small-scale solar is now beyond political reach for the Federal Government, he claimed the agreement was still a “bad deal” for large-scale solar.
Environment minister Greg Hunt said today’s agreement would achieve certainty for the renewable energy sector – claiming: “We should now be able to get on with the job, complete the legislation through the House and the Senate and see renewable energy constructed, but with appropriate protections for consumers.”
Minister for industry and science Ian Macfarlane said: “Wood waste will be in the proposal that goes into the House in the legislative amendments hopefully next week, or the week after.”
Last week the Labor Party in Victoria also called on the Federal Government to remove legislation that prevents individual states from setting their own RET, aiming to reinstate the Victorian state's own target (the VRET) to support jobs and industry.