May 26, 2014 - The reduction or cancellation of Australia’s renewable energy target (RET) scheme will curtail between AUD 12 billion (USD 11bn/EUR 8bn) and AUD 21 billion in clean energy investment, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) said Sunday.
The ones that will benefit the most from the review are fossil-fuel power generators as competition on the power market will decline, pushing prices up. The market intelligence firm's Sydney team warns in a white paper that a reduction to the target will result in power prices that are AUD 16 higher in the year 2020 for the average household. In 2030, a household will be paying some AUD 68 more, BNEF says. The cuts to RET will also lead to an AUD-12-billion drop in investment in the sector and 6,600 fewer renewable energy jobs per year, BNEF calculates.
If the RET scheme is abandoned altogether, the power bill per household will grow by at least AUD 44 in 2020, according to the white paper. "By 2030, the average household can expect to pay at least AUD 142 (6%) more on their annual power bill than if the renewable target were kept in place," BNEF said. Furthermore, clean energy investment will fall by AUD 21 billion and the number of clean energy jobs per year will go down by 11,100.
All in all, existing power generators can expect extra revenues of AUD 6.1 billion-11.5 billion in the 2015-2020 period, and AUD 40.3 billion-70.2 billion in 2015-2030 if there are less renewable power plants to disturb them. Most of this additional income will go to coal-fired power stations, BNEF said.
Australia’s current RET programme, under which the country aims to source from renewables 20% of its total power by 2020, will attract AUD 35 billion of clean energy investment by 2020, provide jobs to 25,000 people every year and lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 5%. It is to prevent future increases in power prices, as well, as renewable power purchase agreements have fixed prices for 20 to 25 years, BNEF explained.
(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.924/EUR 0.678)
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