Renewable boom is leaving us stumbling

Canberra Times
29 June 2011, Page: 19

Australians are great innovators. Think Hills Hoist, the wine cask and bionic ears. But we are also renowned for stumbling at the finishing line where it matters most. Today, there is a global race to take advantage of the boom in renewable energy and countries like China, South Korea, Germany and the US are leaving us for dead. Often using technologies that were developed here.

We're pretending not to notice as another clean energy technology manufacturer shuts up shop and heads offshore because Australia doesn't have the right support to attract the investment needed.

Early this month, an Adelaide solar cell manufacturer closed its doors and relocated to the US after deciding an Australian based operation wasn't viable. After receiving $8 million in state and federal research and development grants to develop super slim solar panels pioneered at the Australian National University in Canberra, Origin Energy Solar is heading to Idaho, taking with it the knowledge, the investment and the potential for a stack of new jobs.

Origin Energy Solar joins the likes of Stinted' Power, now in China and one of the world's largest solar manufacturers, built on the back of technology developed at the University of New South Wales. Or the solar thermal technology developed by Dr David Mills at Sydney University and now driving the fortunes of Ausra. In America.

How can we put a stop to the brain drain, the demise of our manufacturing industries and the failure to capitalise on job creation? The answer sits on the desk of our most senior government ministers. As they deliberate on the detail of a carbon price, the answer is staring them in the face.

Revenue generated from the price on carbon can be used to finance the transition to a clean energy future and there is a smart way to do it. The Australian Conservation Foundation recently issued a report, Funding the Transition to a Clean Energy Economy, which highlights the myriad ways government can catalyse private investment in clean energy. Globally, countries are using a suite of financial policy measures and instruments to support the commercialisation of clean technologies, build low carbon industries and create tens of thousands of new jobs.

The Federal Government already supports Australian export industries through the Export Finance Insurance Corporation, our film industry through tax credits and other "nationally significant" infrastructure with a variety of co investment, off take agreements, subordinated debt and other methods.

The Federal Government has before it right now a proposal to establish an equivalent independent authority to facilitate the rapid roll out and expansion of private investment in renewable energy technologies. A clean energy finance corporation is needed as part of the carbon pricing package to unlock the clean energy boom in Australia.Support for a_clean_energy finance corporation has come from the largest investors in Australia, such as the peak bodies in the super funds industry. Investors are ready to play their part.

The Government needs to get the settings right. What better way to invest our super funds than in securing a long term clean energy future for our children? The investor community can do the heavy lifting, but it's up to the Government to prepare the ground.

A clean energy finance corporation needs to be well funded, with around $2 billion from carbon permit revenue each year. And it needs to be targeted at real renewable energy deployment solar, wave and geothermal technologies that stand ready to be delivered, using resources Australia has in abundance. We shouldn't waste time on unproven, inefficient and costly technologies like so-called clean coal. Not when our endless sunshine, wind, waves and hot rocks are the envy of the world.

We should be winning this race. We have what it takes to lead the world into a 100% renewable clean energy future. Instead we've allowed other nations, who have less technological innovation and fewer natural resources, to get ahead. At this crucial moment in deciding our economic, environmental and energy future, it's time we caught up.

Simon O'Connor is the Australian Conservation Foundation's economic adviser.