EPURON congratulates the Climate Change Authority (CCA) on its final report of Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) Review released today.

Epuron appreciates the comprehensive review undertaken by the CCA, and in particular its focus on providing certainty for investors in the renewable energy industry in Australia.

Epuron supports the key outcomes and recommendations of the CCA report. We acknowledge the CCA’s views that:

• the RET has a continuing role to play in supporting investment in renewable generation in an uncertain policy environment.
• the Authority is not convinced that a compelling case exists to adjust the target.
• the form of the target should remain fixed in terms of gigawatt hours.
• the SRES remain a separate scheme, and its broad structure remain largely unchanged
• in the event that a national white certificate scheme were to be implemented, all displacement technologies should cease to be eligible under the RET, and be transferred to that new scheme.
• The ongoing eligibility of solar water heaters should be reviewed in light of regulatory developments: to the extent that solar water heaters are mandated through other means it would be difficult to justify their continued support through the RET.
• the frequency of scheduled reviews should be amended from every two years to every four years.

Epuron considers that these outcomes and recommendations provide the investor confidence required to deliver renewable energy under the RET at the lowest overall cost. The Review also highlights the higher relative cost of the Small Renewable Energy System (SRES) target and outlines mechanisms to curb any substantial increase in costs from that scheme.

The CCA has noted that the RET is delivering the benefits intended, and its independent modelling confirms the low overall cost of the RET scheme to consumers at $12-$64 per annum.

Epuron therefore congratulates the CCA on its work and supports its recommendations that deliver increased policy certainty and investor confidence for the renewable energy industry.