The Federal Government has committed $4 billion in this year's budget to increasing the production and use of clean energy.
A new $2 billion hydrogen fund will support renewable hydrogen projects, build critical domestic experience and expertise in hydrogen, and position Australia to take advantage of the potential of hydrogen technology.
A $1.6 billion energy savings fund will support energy upgrades and residential home electrification. This will address Australia’s woefully inefficient housing stock, which leads to higher heating and cooling bills.
$1 billion of the fund will target more than 110,000 homes to support lower cost lending for "battery-ready solar PV, modern appliances and other improvements." $ 300 million will target 60,000 social housing properties to upgrade.
And $310 million in tax relief will be provided to small businesses to help them electrify and become more energy efficient.
A new Capacity Investment Mechanism (which enables power plants to be available for generating electricity when needed) will support auctions for new storage capacity that will be managed by the states.
Another $38.2 million is allocated for a Guarantee of Origin scheme that will certify renewable energy and track and verify emissions from clean energy products – in particular hydrogen.
And $83 million has been allocated to establish a Net Zero Transition Authority to support emissions-intensive sectors and their workforce to transition into new clean energy industries.