Climate Change Authority to review Aussie RET scheme

Oct 21, 2014 - The Climate Change Authority (CCA) on Monday said it will finalise another review of Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme by the end of December.

This will be the Authority’s second revision of the programme after a review from 2012. It is required to examine the scheme every two years, according to Australian laws. The country’s new government, which entered office in September 2013, picked global warming skeptic Dick Warburton to review the programme, which is the instrument driving green investment in the country.

In a press release on its website, the CCA said it will conduct a “limited” review of the scheme, "with the aim of making a constructive contribution while not exacerbating policy uncertainty for the electricity sector". This year, the CCA will take into account the abolition of the carbon tax and the outlook for electricity demand.

Meanwhile, the Australian government is expected to decide on the RET’s future. In August, the review panel called in a report for the close of the RET scheme to new entrants with large-scale projects, among other measures threatening the sector’s future. Under current RET guidelines, Australia aims to source 20% of its total power from renewables by 2020, which were previously calculated to be equal to 41,000 GWh annually.

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