RET reduction deal backed by Labor

The ALP will reluctantly support a forced compromise deal of a 33,500 GWh Renewable Energy Target (RET) in 2020, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has announced. The new target is only slightly higher than the Abbott government’s original figure of 32,000 GWh and well below the 41,000 GWh figure implemented under the previous Labor Government.

The deal was recently proposed by the Clean Energy Council in the hope of bringing an end to a year-long stalemate over the future of the RET. As well as preserving a multibillion-dollar investment pipeline and creating thousands of jobs, the proposal will apparently lock in support for residential and commercial-scale solar, remove the two-yearly reviews of the RET and seek to ensure ongoing support for exciting new technologies into the future.

“The federal Labor Party now joins many state and territory governments, a growing number of Coalition politicians and the vast majority of Australians who want an end to the current renewable energy crisis,” said Clean Energy Council CEO Kane Thornton. He said Labor’s backing of the proposal will see the two major parties meet in the middle of their negotiating positions to do a deal on the future of the target.

Australian Solar Council CEO John Grimes said the industry and Opposition have been “blackmailed” into the RET cut, despite the government having made “no successful argument for reducing the Renewable Energy Target”. He claimed, “A deal at 33,500 GWh will not deliver for large-scale solar.”

However, Grimes praised the work of the Solar Council and its partners in saving the small-scale solar scheme (SRES). Shorten has made it clear that Labor will not support any changes to the scheme.

The Opposition Leader has additionally promised that Labor will “use this target as a floor and, if elected, acting on the advice of the sector, will increase the RET out to 2030 to bolster investment, specifically in large-scale solar”. Should this eventuate, the Australian Solar Council will be arguing for an RET of at least 50% by 2030.