The A$1.2 billion saving Australia’s electricity rule-maker just knocked back
The governing body for our energy market, the Australian Energy Market Commission, has just missed a major opportunity to modernise our electricity networks. Last week the commission rejected a proposal to pay credits to small, local generators (such as small wind, solar and gas). Our research shows that this could save electricity consumers A$1.2 billion […]
The real lesson from South Australia’s electricity ‘crisis’: we need better climate policy
Australia’s energy markets got a big shock in July this year, when wholesale electricity prices spiked in South Australia, alarming the state government and major industrial customers. Commentators rushed to find the immediate culprits. But the real issues lie elsewhere. As shown by the Grattan Institute’s latest report the market worked. Having soared, prices fell […]
Attacks on renewable energy policy are older than the climate issue itself
The recent battles over the budget of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), and before that over the size of the Renewable Energy Target, are the latest skirmishes in a long-running war over support for technologies that harvest Australia’s abundant wind and solar resources. Perhaps surprisingly, the conflict even predates the popular awareness of climate […]
Australian Renewable Energy Agency saved but with reduced funding – experts react
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has been granted a funding lifeline of A$800 million over the next five years, after the federal government and opposition came to an agreement that will save the agency. ARENA had faced being wound down as a result of the government’s earlier proposal to strip A$1.3 billion from the […]
