Energy Minister Chris Bowen has aggressively rebooted government support for renewable energy with a new revenue underwriting scheme that he hopes will unlock $40 billion in private investment, adding another 32 gigawatts of capacity on top of the 28 gigawatts of clean energy already in the National Electricity Market.

But Mr Bowen was also at a point where he had to do something to get anywhere close to the legislated target of 82 per cent renewable energy in just seven years, and a great deal of detail and consultation is still missing.