Technology roadmap a ‘missed opportunity’
Power baron Trevor St Baker has savaged the government’s tech roadmap for ignoring electric vehicles and failing to prioritise the reduction of carbon emissions.
Power baron Trevor St Baker has savaged the Morrison government’s technology investment roadmap for ignoring electric vehicles and failing to prioritise the reduction of carbon emissions in the transport sector.
Mr St Baker, a major shareholder in Brisbane EV charging innovators Tritium and Evie Networks, said he was concerned the energy blueprint handed down by the government had missed a major opportunity by only looking to remove barriers to electric vehicles where feasible.
Instead, areas such as hydrogen, energy storage and carbon capture will be prioritised for investment through Canberra’s green banks.
“The federal government’s technology roadmap will have no post-COVID private sector investment and private sector job creation, nor contribute in either the immediate term nor near term to any reduction in transport sector emissions of poisonous gasoline exhausts nor of emissions of greenhouse gases, which are currently greater than all the emissions from coal and gas-fired power stations in Australia,” Mr St Baker said in a statement.
A key plank of Canberra’s plan is the flexibility for governments to shift between technologies through annual reviews of the roadmap. However, the influential energy investor said he had already outstripped the government’s $74.5m Future Fuels Fund commitment to the electric vehicle sector announced last week with his own $85m investment through the StBaker Energy Innovation Fund.
“Getting carried away with fuel cells and hydrogen cars is oblivious of the immediate massive growth industries in the e-mobility revolution that is occurring around the world,” Mr St Baker said.
“There are no significant initiatives in the government’s statement that prioritise reduction of carbon emissions in the transport sector through electrification.
“Specifically, there are no significant initiatives to increase the take up of electric vehicles — and, thus, increased use of charging sites — despite the government’s position there are currently barriers to the large-scale take up of these vehicles.”
Still, other investors focused on technologies including carbon capture and storage and hydrogen such as Santos, BP and Woodside Petroleum cheered the government’s move to prioritise the technology.
The government will invest $18bn in low-emissions technologies through to 2030, with co-investment from the private sector and other levels of government expected to drive at least $50bn in investment across the country.
“The Australian government is now doing exactly what the experts tell us needs to be done — investing $18bn over 10 years to accelerate new energy technologies, including carbon capture and storage, to drive emissions down,” Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher said.
The Clean Energy Council said the roadmap showed promise but had missed an opportunity to boost Australia‘s wind and solar resources.
“The roadmap should support renewable energy enablers, including grid-forming inverter technology, transmission network and integrated systems architecture as well as focus on much-needed development of the grid and reform of the energy market,” the CEC said.
The Smart Energy Council, representing the solar, energy storage and renewable hydrogen industry, said the direction for the industry was unclear.
“We already have the cheap, clean technology that can respond today. This roadmap does not tell us where we are going, by design. It is intended to impede, not facilitate clean energy progress,” the council’s CEO John Grimes said.
Mr Morrison last week moved to end the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s strict rules on funding only wind and solar projects and announced a $1.9bn budget boost allowing ARENA and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to invest in new technologies including CCS, soil carbon, hydrogen and green steel.
The government has already committed more than $570m to establish an Australian hydrogen industry, including $70.2m announced last week for a regional export hub.