The CEC’s letter said that it is time to step up energy market reform in Australia in order to overcome the barriers to renewable energy and battery storage and to start developing a 21st century energy system. The letter was sent last week ahead of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Energy Council meeting. It set out a detailed plan to address barriers that are slowing the transition to a cleaner energy system, including making renewable energy and storage a priority and best practice approaches to connecting new renewable energy projects to the electricity grid.
“The Clean Energy Council believes that a range of barriers already distort the energy market” the letter said. “The result is frustration and delays to the efficient entry of new technologies that will empower consumers, deliver greater competition and lower energy sector emissions. With ongoing cost reductions of renewable energy and battery storage, the pace of technology change will only continue to accelerate across Australia. It is increasingly apparent that policymakers, regulators and market operators need to take a more strategic approach to prepare for future electricity system needs.”
Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Kane Thornton added that progress on energy market reform had lagged behind the rapid advancement in new technologies, while the very objectives of the Australian energy market continue to ignore the country’s stated commitment to reduce carbon emissions and facilitate renewable energy. More than 70 percent of Australia’s coal-fired power generators are at or beyond their expected operating life and the expectation is that they will be progressively replaced with clean, modern renewable energy generators.
The measures outlined the letter to the COAG Energy Council are grouped into a number of themes, including the acceleration of a transition to a cleaner energy sector, a strategic approach to South Australia’s transitioning electricity sector, the establishment of best practice regimes that end the discrimination of new energy technologies, tariff reform and the need to work with industry to ensure a regulatory framework for energy storage technologies.
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