Was the renewables industry better off under Abbott than Turnbull?

There is an argument to be made that the renewable energy industry in Australia was better off when Tony Abbott was prime minister. At least it knew then why the government was trying to destroy it.

Under Abbott, the message was clear and unequivocal: We don’t want you. We don’t like the way you look; you’re causing health problems for people; and your technology doesn’t work anyway. Besides, coal is good for humanity.

The message was clear from top to bottom. Abbott and his treasurer found wind turbines to be offensive, his chief business advisor thought climate science was a giant hoax, and the pro-nuclear head of his review into renewable energy said wind and solar were not useful. Junior MPs and ministers proved echo-chambers for the myth-making of anti-wind social media sites. There was never any doubt as to that government’s intentions.

Under the leadership of Malcolm Turnbull, the rhetoric has (mostly) changed: the gratuitous insults and personal prejudice are (largely) muted, although coal is still considered to be good for humanity and to solve hunger. But policy has not changed, and the large-scale renewable energy industry has little to show for the change in leadership.

The Turnbull government has begun 2016 in the same way that the Abbott government started 2014 and 2015; with legislation on the table that calls for the dismantling of the government’s key agencies – the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Climate Change Authority.

Greens Senator Larissa Waters highlighted the move on her Facebook page on Monday, and wondered why. (See image below).

waters arena cefc

Like Abbott, Turnbull has allowed the terms of the appointed board members of ARENA to expire, meaning that the supposedly independent agency is now governed solely by the secretary of Greg Hunt’s environment department. The board of the CCA has been largely replaced by advisors and ex Coaliton MPs sympathetic to the Coalition’s approach to climate change.

Like Abbott, Turnbull is hiding behind a climate policy that he once contemptuously dismissed as a “fig leaf.” Despite signing up to the Paris climate agreement, and its ambitious target of capping temperatures “well below 2°C” and possibly as low as 1.5°C, the Coalition continues a policy plan that assumes temperature gains of 4°C.

It has offered a target of 26-28 per cent reductions in emissions (below 2000 levels) by 2030. This is dismissed as inadequate by all independent assessments, yet the Coalition has no credible policy to reach even this modest goal.

The government will reach its 2020 target of a 5 per cent reduction thanks to an “accounting trick” using surplus credits from the Kyoto Protocol, but its emissions are actually forecast to rise to record levels around the same time and will not likely peak until 2030.

Funding for Direct Action’s Emissions Reduction Fund has not been re-booted, according to Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, and will likely be exhausted this year, analysts said. Cormann says future funding is yet to be considered. The Coalition’s safeguards mechanism imposes no restrictions on big emitters.

A fig leaf indeed. Little wonder, then, that the Grantham Institute in the UK scored Australia a zero on “high level policy vision”. Australia ranks well on public support for climate and clean energy policies, and for the institutions put in place. But it is these very institutions that the Coalition still threatens to remove.

The result is confusion, concern and dismay. Despite all the talk of the “innovation economy”, the large-scale renewable energy target remains at a standstill, without a single wind farm or solar farm commissioned or built since the Coalition took power in September 2013.

Distributed generation – rooftop solar and battery storage – remain popular with homes and businesses, but state and privately owned utilities are running roughshod, amending tariffs and imposing rules despite the best attempts of consumer groups and others.

The only large-scale projects to get the go-ahead are those funded under the ACT government’s reverse auction program, a testimony to what sound and clear policy can achieve. Other projects such as the big solar farms built in NSW were instigated by Labor and funded by the very agencies that the Coalition wants to dismantle.

There are signs that some construction will finally begin. State-owned utilities such as Ergon and Synergy have been tendering for projects, and local and state governments such as the Melbourne City Council, and the South Australian government have also tendered to ensure that their own energy needs are met with renewable energy.

NSW has done the same for its proposed Metro Rail project, and one privately owned utility, Alinta Energy, has also issued a tender.

But even if the drought is broken, there is little chance that the industry can get anywhere near the amount of construction needed to avoid a shortfall in the RET, and therefore penalty payments being imposed on utilities, and ultimately the consumer.

Green Energy Markets says 4,400MW of new projects need to be commissioned this year to ensure that even the reduced target of 33,000GWh is met on time.

In the last four months, just 8MW of renewables was commissioned, despite renewable energy certificates soaring to record levels of $77/MWh. The obligated parties and the financiers simply do not believe that the policy is solid.

This is what the Grantham Institute refers to as a lack of high level, or long-term vision. The government’s climate policy effectively ends at the end of this year, and the RET has no visibility beyond 2020. The industry is trying to sound positive and hopeful, but is becoming increasingly exasperated.

Now, some may argue that this is the inherent weakness of the Paris climate deal, which imposes no legal penalties on governments who do not meet their targets. But to do so would be to misunderstand what is happening beyond the insular, fossil-fueled thinking of the Australian economy.

The reason agreement was reached in Paris – apart from the astute diplomacy of the French – was that technology presents no major hurdle, or added costs. Australia’s position assumes business as usual for its fossil fuel exports, but the biggest economies are finding that they have cheaper, home-grown alternatives.



India’s own energy minister last month conceded that large-scale solar was cheaper than coal power. That should give a pretty big clue about where that country will be heading in the short, medium and long term. The capital markets are already moving, and the Paris deal will add to that momentum.

Australia was a party to the Paris deal, and even climbed aboard the Coalition of Ambition after the deal had been approved, to much acclaim. But its support appeared begrudging. Even in Paris it baulked at the removal of fossil fuel subsidies, and continued to argue that coal was key to stopping hunger. It mocks the higher renewable energy targets proposed by Labor.

So while the likes of Ross Garnaut talk of the enormous opportunities if the country was to take advantage of its renewable resources, and its know-how, Australia insists on playing dumb. For what purpose, other than the satisfaction of ideological and vested interests, is not at all clear.

Comments

16 responses to “Was the renewables industry better off under Abbott than Turnbull?”

  1. suthnsun Avatar
    suthnsun

    Very depressing reading, I suggest we all start thinking and signalling our intention to vote green. Somehow the govt needs to hear the level of frustration that is building..

    1. solarguy Avatar
      solarguy

      The bastards won’t listen as their hell bent on looking after their FF mates. By voting Labor and or Greens this coming election is the only way to give them the good news.

  2. lin Avatar
    lin

    Grantham Institute in the UK scored Australia a zero on “high level policy vision”.
    The government should consider itself lucky they didn’t give out negative scores, because we have “high level policy vision”. It is just that it involves attempted destruction of any competition to FF dominance of the energy supply.
    It appears that Malcolm’s legacy is set to be just as dismal as the abominable Abbott’s.

  3. Tim Buckley Avatar
    Tim Buckley

    I find it amazing the our Prime Minister Turnbull can say his vision rests on encouraging Australian innovation, yet ARENA – the brilliant entity charged with encouraging and promoting Australian innovation in the energy sector is being progressively sidelined and dismantled. All to appease the vested interests of the largely foreign owned fossil fuel sector. A sector getting rapidly smaller with every month as the inevitable technology driven structural change hits!

    1. Rob G Avatar
      Rob G

      Its an expensive price to pay for an ego. Very disappointing from MT.

      1. Miles Harding Avatar
        Miles Harding

        Ego? Who said anything about ego??
        This is business, there’s no place for egos, compassion or a fair go here!

        The fine print now says “government of the people, by the corporations and for the corporations”. sigh.

    2. Alastair Leith Avatar
      Alastair Leith

      Malcolms bread not being butter with Innovation™ perhaps.

  4. BsrKr11 Avatar
    BsrKr11

    Since he screwed us on the NBN why would this leopard change his spots now?

  5. Ken Dyer Avatar
    Ken Dyer

    Recently, Environment Minister Hunt had a self serving letter published in his local paper, patting himself on the back for all the wonderful things he has done, none of which is of course, true. He even quoted his favorite information source, that has now recognised that Australia as far as emissions are concerned is the pits. One just despairs about the chicanery of Turnbull and Hunt.
    It is also edifying to note that the ‘talking points’ about the next election leaked by the COALition are conspicuously silent about the environment and emissions. So, people, make a noise in your local papers and get the renewables industry firmly on the election agenda.

  6. Colin Vincent Avatar
    Colin Vincent

    Why am I not surprised?
    I hope someone tweeted (or something) the image to Turnbull.
    Speaks volumes.
    How long must we go on being ruled by idiots and capacious pockets?

  7. Cooma Doug Avatar
    Cooma Doug

    I thought we had a good man at the helm with real intentions based on science, fairness and genuine concern for the planet. I was wrong.

    Giles
    Thanks for your quality work here each day I look forward.

  8. Rob Avatar
    Rob

    Malcolm Turnbull has had major failures in judgement before. This could be his most serious one if he doesn’t put his money where his mouth is on climate change and renewable energy.

  9. Ben Rose Avatar

    Good accurate summary of the situation as usual; many thanks Giles.

    Problem is this big chunk of the Aus population that doesn’t want to know or think much; they just want to be allowed to go to sleep with a ‘nice man in charge’ like Malcolm is or ‘little Johnny’ was (we slept soundly for 10 years under him, with the reassurance of Rupert’s morning newspaper).

    Problem for the Libs now is that in spite of Mal being nice, there’s a lot of ‘family spats’ happening in his ‘home’ (the Liberal Party), not FACTIONS (don’t mention the word), not, just spats.

  10. Alfredo Stewart Avatar
    Alfredo Stewart

    One thing they keep leaving out is job possibilities with renewable energy. Wind farms will only generate 7 jobs per farm. Not once have i seen anyone argue about whether or not certain energy replacements will provide jobs for those displaced or those entering the workforce.
    Known on us we will shut down mines and not have their replacement ready.

  11. Kevin Brown Avatar
    Kevin Brown

    Geez Giles. Is there no light on the horizon? Is there no way we can get the show on the road again.

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