The Australian government has announced AU$50 million (US$33.7 million) in investment to develop renewable energy supply chains – notably for solar and energy storage – in the Indo-Pacific.
The funding will support research to develop projects in Australia and southern and southeast Asian countries, particularly mentioning solar ingot and wafer production and battery cell component manufacturing.
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“The world’s climate emergency presents economic opportunities to harness a growing global demand for clean energy”, said minister for climate change and energy Chris Bowen. “Diversifying and expanding supply chains is important to achieve Australia’s and our partners’ net zero targets.”
This investment announcement follows a statement in May from the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue – a consortium of Australia, Japan, India and the US – outlining the principal importance of clean energy supply chains.
In that statement, ‘The Quad’, as the group is known, said that diversified clean energy supply chains in the Indo-Pacific were “urgent and critical” to enhance collective energy security and support the global energy transition. It also highlighted the pursuit of environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices to make supply chains more transparent.
Australia currently has very little solar PV manufacturing capability, and its Quad partner India has been looking to build out its capacity and lessen its dependence on Chinese imports.