WTF is going on Team Australia?

For the past ten years, I have been privileged to serve in both Government and Industry leadership positions within the Renewable Energy Industry. Until recently, Australian renewable and climate change policy was cited as a model for the world. The various programmes and companies that I worked with attracted over a billion dollars of renewable energy investment to Australia, from research and innovation, through to deployment, and on to the associated distributed field services driving down the cost of locally generated renewable energy.

A logical choice

Think of it as national swimming championships.

Seven out of the eight swimmers in the final come from Team Carbon, which has a 100 year history of national support. They swim in speed enhancing C02 propelled body suits and often have long term access to nutrients at well below the global market prices.

The athlete in lane eight is pretty new to the racing scene. He swims for Team Renewable and is tipped to be the fastest swimmer by 2030, without the need for any CO2 propulsion.

The global Olympic movement has agreed that to make swimming credible, access to CO2 propulsion will have to be reduced by 80% by 2050.

Internationally, the Australian swimming association’s plan was seen as very comprehensive. ARENA provided support for the U14 athletes in Team Renewable to get them up to speed, the CEFC facilitated the transition of the U18 swimmers to the Open Age group and the RET was on track to ensure  that by 2020, two of the eight national finalists would be from Team Renewable.

After that Team Renewable were to be on its own, albeit Team Carbon would have to pay a Carbon price to wear CO2 propelled body suits.

Out of their depth

In the last year, the tides have turned. Every single programme introduced to encourage the use of renewable energy solutions as part of the solution to a 2050 80% emission reduction target has been removed, or is in the process being repealed.

It is hard to sell Australia as a place to invest these days. The Asia Pacific region is gliding ahead as the renewable energy industry champion of the world, while Australia is drowning. The team leaders have turned their backs on the stars of the future.

The international context is not even mentioned until the final three pages of the Warburton review document (appendix E), telling a story at odds with the recommendations;

• 144 countries have renewable energy targets
• the International Energy Agency (IEA) ranks renewable energy as the world’s fastest growing energy source, forecast to overtake natural gas and reach double the output of nuclear energy by 2016
• by 2018 renewables are expected to reach ….. 25 per cent of gross electricity generation ambitious renewable energy policies and targets continue to drive investment in a number of major economies including China, Japan, India…
• Germany…45% by 2035
• California…33% by 2020
• New York 30% by 2015

These economies have targets for renewable energy – not just to reduce emissions, but also to improve energy security, and to provide employment.

The Government’s own Bureau of Resource and Energy Economics predicts that solar and wind will be the lowest cost electricity supply options available by 2030. Therefore, it would be naïve to assume that renewable energy will not have to be a major contributor to energy supply by 2050, if our commitment to reduce emissions by 80% is to be delivered, by the time my 12 year old son is the age I am today.

Every major change in our country’s energy system has been driven by Government policy and often on the national budget. The RET is not a taxpayer handout, it’s a clever policy (designed by the Howard government!)  that drives  the private investment that takes the capital cost risk with the electricity consumer paying a 3-4% premium in return today that lowers over time to become a long term saving into the future whilst reducing emissions.

It’s time to sink or swim. NOW is the moment to share your stories with those around you, your local MP and your community.  Are we going to sit back and lose a decade, until by the Warburton review’s own admission, this young industry we have worked hard to build recovers!

Mark Twidell has worked in the solar industry for over 25 years.  He has operated in Australia, India, USA and Europe in solar-related leadership roles for both industry and the Australian government. The views in this article are personal and do not reflect this of any current or past employer.  He is currently the Deputy Chair of the Clean Energy Council and employed in the PV sector.