NSW Government undermines election promise on renewable energy

www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au
12 Apr 2012

Calls by the NSW Government to abondon Australia's 20% Renewable Energy Target (RET) undermine a key state election commitment as well as putting billions of dollars of renewable energy investment at risk, the Clean Energy Council said today. Clean Energy Council acting Chief Executive Kane Thornton said the timing of NSW Energy Minister Chris Hartcher's comments this morning was strange, given IPART's price determination today showed renewable energy such as wind and solar would contribute nothing to the projected NSW power hikes for the coming year.

"Page 3 of today's IPART report clearly states that 'green schemes' such as wind and solar are not responsible for any increase in electricity prices for the next financial year, Mr Thornton said. "This is a case of short term politics trumping important long-term change that will benefit everyone, and it's a knee jerk reaction that is bad for investment and bad for jobs. You can't just turn major policies on and off like a light switch", he said.

Mr Thornton said removing the RET would seriously impact the viability of billions of dollars of projects that have already been built, and undermine the massive future opportunity for jobs and investment from clean energy in NSW into the future. "It's a worrying sign that the NSW Government would seek the removal of one of Australia's most significant energy policies without considering the impact this would have on investors who have put billions of dollars into clean energy projects in NSW. The RET is scheduled to run until 2030 and these projects would face collapse if it was removed", he said.

"Mr Hartcher says he remains committed to growing renewable energy at least cost to consumers. The policy that does this is the Renewable Energy Target, which was introduced by the Howard Government in 2001 and expanded with the support of both major parties in 2009. "It is hard to see how the NSW Government could meet its election commitment on delivering 20% of the state's electricity from renewable energy without this policy. "This is a policy that will deliver more than 30,000 jobs and $20 billion in investment. Companies have already invested more than $700 million in NSW wind farms alone under the Renewable Energy Target".