The RRPGP provided financial support to increase the use of renewable generation in remote parts of Australia that rely on diesel and other fossil fuels for electricity supply.

“The RRPGP has seen a sharp increase in applications over the last year and all funding has now been committed except in Western Australia,” advised the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

Pre-purchase applications are no longer being accepted, except in Western Australia. Western Australia has been excluded from the closure because its allocated state funding has not yet run out. The amount of funding available to a state was based on the diesel fuel excise paid by remote public power generators in the four year period to 30 June 2004. Western Australia is still spending that original allocation which is forecast to last into 2010.

The Department advised that all pre-purchase applications submitted to the relevant state program administrator prior to the morning of Monday 22 June will be assessed according to the program guidelines.

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The closure follows the recent early closure of the Solar Homes and Communities Plan (SHCP) for similar reasons.

The RRPGP has seen $300 million committed to renewable energy generation in remote and regional areas, supporting more than 7,000 applications for remote power rebates. The Department said that the renewable energy industry has been aware for some time that RRPGP has finite funds and that exhaustion of funds was imminent. It estimated that the industry will need to double its capacity to get through the combined workload from the SHCP and RRPGP within six months.

The Federal Government has highlighted that remote and regional communities can benefit from the new Solar Credits program, saying it will provide assistance to a much wider range of Australians.

Clean Energy Council Policy Manager Russell Marsh said that the RRPGP’s future had appeared threatened since its budget was cut by $42 million in last year's budget, reported the Age.

“Now if you haven't got an application in the system, it would make sense from a cost perspective to continue using diesel,” he said.