Record low green project funding puts 2030 target at risk

Only four renewable energy generation projects have secured financial commitments this year, sparking fresh concern over Australia’s ability to reach its 2030 targets.

Just four Australian renewable energy generation projects secured financial commitments during the first six months of the year.

Just four renewable energy generation projects secured financial commitments during the first six months of the year, the Clean Energy Council said, the lowest level since the green group began collecting data in 2017.

The low number has sparked fresh concern over Australia’s ability to reach a target of nearly tripling renewable capacity to 82 per cent by 2030.

”Despite the stronger-than-average investment in energy storage projects in the second quarter, generation projects have had their slowest first half of the year since the Clean Energy Council began tracking project data in 2017,” the CEC said.

“Investment levels so far this year are 50 per cent below the rolling 12-month quarterly average of 699 MW and are a long way off the pace necessary for Australia to achieve an 82 per cent renewable energy share by 2030.”

Kane Thornton, chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, said the low number of financial commitments illustrate the impact of inaction.

“While there is now strong political support for the clean energy transition, there remains a raft of barriers as a result of the historic lack of leadership, planning and foresight over the prior decade,” Mr Thornton said.

“These challenges make final investment decisions for large scale renewables projects more difficult, and include under-investment in transmission, grid connection challenges, inconsistent planning policies, constraints in supply chains and workforce as Australia competes with global leaders that are all accelerating their demand for renewable energy.”

Transmission is a particularly bottleneck to Australia’s transition. About 10,000km of new lines must be built before 2030, but their development has been hampered by funding constraints and community opposition.

Without the high-voltage transmission lines, renewable energy developers will not commit to the new projects until they have certainty that they will be able to connect into the grid and will not be isolated.

While the Clean Energy Council report will be a bitter blow to supporters of the renewable energy industry, the report did contain some positive news.

The Clean Energy Council said six battery projects reached final investment decisions during the second quarter of 2023.

The six projects added more 3800 MWh across Australia, breaking the billion-dollar barrier for the first time.

The increase will temper some concern about Australia’s storage capacity. Much of Australia’s immediate focus has been on developing renewable energy sources and industry sources are increasingly alarmed about what will support the country’s electricity network when the sun is not shining and wind is not blowing as Australia struggles to develop new sources of gas.