Queensland government’s scrapped renewable energy target outrages environmental groups
Queensland’s decision has sparked fury from environmentalists who say it threatens Australia’s clean-energy transition and the ability to convince developers to invest.
Queensland has scrapped its renewable energy targets and drawn immediate condemnation from environmentalists and clean energy developers.
State parliament on Wednesday voted to withdraw legislated targets requiring Queensland to source 70 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2032, and 80 per cent by 2035. The move fulfils a central pledge of the Crisafulli government, which had argued the benchmarks were unrealistic, rigid and risked pushing up power prices for households and businesses if retained.
The government said ditching the targets would allow it to put affordability and reliability at the heart of the transition. Central to that vision is running coal-fired power stations for longer. It did not specify an end date for the use of coal, but the Australian Energy Market Operator earlier this week predicted the policy would likely keep fossil fuel power stations running until 2049.
Environmental groups and climate advocates described the reversal as a setback for Australia’s decarbonisation efforts, and said it could slow the rollout of clean-energy projects across one of the country’s most resource-rich states.
The pace of renewable investment economy-wide has slowed due to rising construction costs, planning delays and community opposition to large-scale wind and solar-powered electricity generation.
Queensland Conservation Council campaigner Stephanie Gray said it was a hammer blow to the energy transition.
“The Crisafulli government’s move to repeal Queensland’s renewable energy targets is just another ideological attack on clean energy from this government that favours ploughing taxpayer money into dirty, unreliable coal and gas,” Ms Gray said.
“The latest reports by the Australian Energy Market Operator and Commission make it crystal clear that the longer we delay the build-out of renewable energy and storage, the more we pay because our coal-fired power stations are ageing and increasingly unreliable.”
Clean-energy developers echoed those concerns, saying the state government’s decision would give them reasons to reconsider investment.
Queensland was once the darling of would-be solar, wind and battery developers but the election of the Crisafulli government has unwound several large-scale renewable project approvals and heightened the threshold that projects must clear.
As a result, Queensland is now well behind NSW as a potential destination for new developments, and industry figures said the repeal was a signal of its attitude towards future investment.
Any weakening of Queensland as a destination for renewable energy would be a big blow to Australia’s transition. Queensland’s climate is ripe for an extensive introduction of solar-panel generation and batteries, which would boost the national plan for renewable energy to generate 82 per cent of the country’s electricity by 2030 – a key pillar in achieving emission reductions of 43 per cent by 2030.
One senior energy sector figure, who asked not to be named due to commercial sensitivities, said developers would now question prospective developments in the state.
Analysts said that walking back the targets could also have wider implications for the eastern seaboard grid. Queensland was expected to help offset declining coal-fired generation in NSW and Victoria over the next decade but, without clear policy signals, the pace of new renewable projects may slow.
The state opposition blasted the government’s decision, accusing it of jeopardising jobs in emerging industries and ignoring the climate risks already being felt across northern Australia.
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