Policy

As the debate heats up in the run up to Friday’s COAG meeting, the Victorian government has issued a last-minute call to redraft the proposed National Energy Guarantee (NEG), and the Australian Capital Territory has redefined its NEG approval conditions in regard to the emissions target. Meanwhile, Australia’s peak renewable energy bodies have taken opposing positions.

In the lead up to a COAG energy ministers’s critical meeting this week, a poll conducted by ReachTEL for Greenpeace Australia Pacific shows that over 70% of respondents want an ambitious renewable energy target to drive down electricity prices.

The Australian Labor Party is rallying around a position demanding that the coalition party room signs off on the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) before Labor-lead state governments give their go-ahead. Federal energy and environment minister Josh Frydenburg will take the policy to state energy ministers on Friday.

With all eyes on the ACT cabinet, which remains unconvinced of the National Energy Guarantee as a complete policy solution beyond 2020, a new analysis of energy prices shows that ACT household power bills continue to rise. Solar owners, however, are largely insulated from bill shock.

The Western Australia government has signaled scrapping or winding back subsidies for rooftop solar, while looking for ways to boost battery uptake.

According to the latest statistics from the Clean Energy Council (CEC), there are 42 wind and solar projects totaling 6239 MW worth close to $10 billion currently in construction or due to start soon across Australia. The unprecedented large-scale renewables activity is, however, surrounded by growing uncertainty over future policy and regulatory change.

In its annual reports, the Australian Energy Market Commission has proposed a number of changes to tighten Australia’s power system and improve reliability and regulation, reflecting on opportunities and challenges created by a significant increase in the uptake of distributed energy resources. The new recommendations are likely to encourage network development towards P2P energy trading, VPPs and electric vehicle charging.

Looking back on the 2017-18 financial year, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has confirmed it provided $1.1 billion towards renewable energy projects, including 10 large-scale solar projects.

The Australian Energy Market Operator’s wide-ranging and detailed Integrated System Plan prompted a flurry of media reactions that boil down to two conflicting interpretations of its purpose. Some interpreted the findings as a call to hold on tight to coal-fired power, while others a remarkable confirmation that renewables are the optimal electricity source of the future, and high penetrations are both practicable and cost effective.

In what analysts worldwide are sure to look back on as the last golden period for global solar – at least for the immediate future – China saw more impressive figures for PV manufacturing in the first half of the year. Then the government stepped in.