Manufacturing News

Cutting renewable energy target could cost jobs and investment: report

Scrapping Australia’s renewable energy target could cost
billions in potential investment and cost thousands of jobs, according to a
report.

The ABC reports that financial news and data firm Bloomberg
has warned that changes to the current renewable energy target of 20 per cent
of power by 2020 would hit the clean energy industry hard.

Australia’s renewable energy target is currently being
reviewed by an expert panel. It follows the federal government’s decision, made
in last Tuesday’s budget, to axe the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

The lead author of the Bloomberg report, Kobad Bhavnagri
said that the existing target is expected to drive about $35 billion of
investment in clean energy by 2020.

“If that was cut, $21 billion of that would not get
spent, and if it was reduced we’d expect that about $12 billion less would be
invested,” he said.

Bhavnagri added that cutting the target would reduce
competition among the existing fossil fuel power generators. He said that “…
more energy will need to be supplied by coal and gas-fired generation which is
expensive at the time of production.”

“That puts upward pressure on wholesale electricity
prices,” he said.

Bhavnagri’s concerns are shared by the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines, Vestas Wind Systems which claimed that over $10
billion in value for the country’s largest projects is at risk.

And, according to the Danish renewable energy giant, another
$15 billion in projects and 18,000 jobs could be compromised.

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