Backlash against RET review recommendations

The Australian Government has released the RET Review report - an assessment of the Renewable Energy Target (RET) conducted by an independent panel. The report analyses the RET’s impact on electricity prices and energy markets, as well as its costs and benefits for the renewable energy sector, the manufacturing sector and Australian households.

The report is said to be the result of months of consultation with the renewable energy sector and Australian industry, with the review panel having received over 24,000 submissions and met with more than 200 stakeholders. It recommends an overhaul of the RET, including closing the target to new entrants and either closing or scaling back the Small-scale and Large-scale Renewable Energy Schemes.

The review has been criticised by major players in the renewable energy industry. The Clean Energy Council (CEC) has claimed that the review’s recommendations would “decimate the industry, resulting in massive financial damage to over $10 billion worth of investments already made and putting 21,000 jobs at risk”.

“It is inconceivable that the review could objectively recommend slashing the RET when its own economic modelling showed this would lead to higher power bills in the long run, while at the same time smashing billions of dollars of investment,” said CEC Acting Chief Executive Kane Thornton.

“It is particularly naive to suggest that slashing the target would not have a massive impact on businesses that have invested on the basis of a legislated policy scheduled to operate out to 2030, and with over a decade of bipartisan support to date.”

Thornton claimed that 99% of submissions to the review process “called for Australia’s renewables target to be maintained or increased”. He added that the only winners from winding back the RET would be a handful of old coal power plants.

Greens Leader Christine Milne meanwhile described the report as “climate-denier drivel… an $8 billion favour for Tony Abbott’s mates in the fossil fuels sector, at the expense of clean technology”.

Milne noted that renewable energy projects “cost almost nothing to run” once they are built, and that the cheap energy they produce “drives down the wholesale price of power”.

Despite these clear benefits, Milne said, “The uncertainty created by the RET review has been enough to deter investment in clean energy and has already cost communities dearly.” She referred to the recent suspension of the Mildura Power Station Project, which was intended to produce 100 MW of solar energy. 

The Australian Government has said it will consider the findings of the review and announce its response in the coming weeks.