The announcement was welcomed by the Australian Clean Energy Council (CEC) whose Chief Executive Kane Thornton said Federal Government leadership and cooperation was also required to address growing challenges in the energy sector.
“South Australia operates in a national energy market. The development of a long-term national approach, clear market signals and reform of our outdated energy market in partnership with the Federal Government will be essential for the successful transition of Australia’s energy system” Mr Thornton said. “The range of measures announced by Premier Jay Weatherill demonstrates that renewable energy and energy storage can contribute toward a more resilient and secure energy system. Energy storage is obviously going to be a huge part of Australia’s energy future, and the SA government’s funding for new large-scale battery technology will help accelerate its adoption and start to reduce its reliance on increasingly expensive gas power.”
Mr Thornton added that the high-profile Twitter chat between billionaire tech entrepreneurs over the last week has already helped to capture attention across the country and the world, demonstrating that the technology is moving much faster than regulators and policy makers have anticipated.
Reform of the outdated energy market will be important to unlock the massive private sector investment opportunity in renewable energy and energy storage in South Australia. A broad range of technologies and solutions from local and international businesses are now competing to meet this demand.
Australians overwhelmingly support a clean energy future, and South Australia is playing a leading role in the uptake of wind and solar. Meanwhile, the CEC has detailed a range of important reforms necessary to bring the Australian energy system into the 21st century in its recent submission to the Chief Scientist’s review of national energy security.
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