The industry has welcomed the passage of the legislation. The Clean Energy Council said “This is to date the most significant piece of climate change legislation in Australian history. But our job has only just begun. We need to raise more than $20 billion to finance new clean energy projects over the next decade to help create 28,000 new clean jobs.”

The RET’s passage followed debate – in the public arena, and then in Parliament – about the Australia’s renewable energy future and emissions trading scheme, which resulted in the passage of a decoupled and amended RET after the CPRS was voted down.

Lead-up to RET

There were rare moments of pause and hope in the lead up to the reintroduction of the RET bill to the House and Senate for the August sitting of Parliament.

After the Senate referred the provisions of the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Bill 2009 and the Renewable Energy (Electricity) (Charge) Amendment Bill 2009 to the Economics Legislation Committee in June, the industry was left, once again, in a state of uncertainty.

The CEC estimated that the delay in passing the RET legislation was costing the industry at least $2 million a week, and was holding back over 20,000 jobs and billions of dollars of investment.

Solar (un)certainty

In early August, CEC CEO Matthew Warren said the solar industry “stalled” after Federal assistance programs such as the Solar Homes and Communities Plan were closed unexpectedly.

Despite the success of the scheme, it was the uncertainty brought about its closure in June, without the immediate provision of an alternative scheme, which concerned industry leaders. Solar representatives will now no doubt turn to ensuring the future of remote renewable power generation, after the Federal assistance program was also closed in June.

RET delay

The urgency to pass the RET was a question of investor confidence in businesses in an industry with a then uncertain future.

Greenbank Environmental CEO Fiona O’Hehir told EcoGeneration that by delaying the RET, renewable energy businesses were made to look like “risky business – both to offshore and to local investment houses”.

In early August, the situation took on a new urgency as it became obvious that both the Opposition and the Greens would not support the passage of the CPRS – and that the linked RET would go down with it if amendments were not made swiftly.

Vigorous negotiates from all interested parties resulted in significant amendments, including decoupling the RET and CPRS legislations; inclusion of waste coal mine gas; scope for industries which may be affected by the RET such as food processing, to refer their treatment to the Productivity Commission; a tightening of regulations relating to RET eligibility for heat pumps; and, exemptions for emission-intensive trade-exposed (EITE) industries.

Moving forward

There remain some differences of opinion within the clean energy industry, including assistance for emerging technologies.

In an amendment put to the Government by the Opposition, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water Greg Hunt called for a portion, or carve-out, of the 20 per cent target to be reserved for emerging technologies.

In favour of this provision, the newly formed Australian Emerging Renewable Energy Technology Alliance (AERETA) – whose members include the Australian Geothermal Energy Association (AGEA), WWF, the Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy Society and Oceanlinx – argued that the legislation should ensure there is room in the target for emerging, indigenous renewable technologies and that the legislation send a clear signal to the investment market that these emerging renewable technologies will be specifically supported in the legislation.

In response, Mr Warren said that these technologies need a suite of additional but targeted measures such as tax reform, grants, research and development schemes, and skills and training programs.

As discussions continue, the RET legislation will no doubt be ironed out, and as Australia works toward generating 20percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, the clean energy industry is finally able to operate with the certainty that has been lacking for so long.