A quick guide to Australia’s renewable energy target

It is becoming abundantly clear that the review of the Renewable Energy Target to be undertaken by the Climate Change Authority is the most important policy consideration for the clean energy industry in Australia at the moment. Our interview with the global head of energy at Acciona, and David Green, the newly appointed head of the Clean Energy Council, make that clear enough.

So if a picture or a table are worth a thousand words, then a collection of excellent graphics and tables must be worth many thousands, which is why we have published this graphic illustration of the renewable energy target, as prepared by Melbourne-based firm Exigency.

Because of its format, the best way to view it is to click on the image, and then the bits hidden by stuff in the right hand column will become visible. The key points are illustrated – the contribution of electricity to Australia’s emissions, the falling contribution of renewables to Australia’s grid in the last 50 years, a history of the RET, the tiny contribution of the RET’s impact on retail electricity prices, and the changing mix of generation sources. We reckon it’s a pretty good ready reference.

 

Comments

One response to “A quick guide to Australia’s renewable energy target”

  1. John D Avatar

    The important thing to understand about the RET emissions trading scheme is that it is an offset credit trading scheme. Offset credit trading schemes work by awarding credits to suppliers that average better than target while requiring suppliers who average worse than target have to buy these credits from the cleaner suppliers to offset their poor performance. In effect it is a mechanism for extracting a levy from dirty performers which is used to subsidize clean performers. In the case of the RET, power costs only ramp up slowly because it started with a large number worse than target suppliers subsidizing a very small number of better than target suppliers. There is no transfer of funds to the government so it is not a defacto tax.

    By contrast, the proposed ETS is a market mechanism for determining the size of the carbon tax. In theory it will work by pushing the average price of electricity high enough to make clean electricity competitive. As a result, the price of electricity has to increase sharply before investment in clean becomes attractive. It is this sudden increase that provides ammunition for the Tony Abbots of the world.

    Offset credit trading is a logical way to drive down the average fuel consumption per km of new cars. It doesn’t require any change in the price of fuel to work. See:
    http://pragmatusj.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/using-offset-credit-trading-to-drive.html

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