Confidence in clean energy down as government clings to fossil fuels

Grid connection issues and unhelpful and unpredictable government intervention are behind falling clean energy investment confidence by senior business leaders, according to the Clean Energy Council.

The industry also rated network capacity and transmission concerns, lack of long-term federal energy policy and future market design uncertainty as major challenges.

The council’s bi-annual Clean Energy Outlook Confidence Index survey shows investment confidence has dropped from 7.3 in July 2020 to 6.3 – its second-lowest level since December 2019.

Investment confidence was highest in New South Wales and Queensland, and lowest in Western Australia and Tasmania.

CEC Chief Executive, Kane Thornton said: “This is the time to be opening the doors to new investment in utility-scale clean energy projects, boosting jobs and regional development, and ensuring sufficient new generation is in place before old fossil-fuel generators retire or are priced out of the market.

“Instead, we’ve seen governments backing two gas plants in NSW, the surprising decisions from the Federal Government not to support the Kaban Green Power Hub and then reject the Asian Renewable Energy Hub, on top of moves to change the funding remit of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.”

Thornton said these were a concerning series of events, and not a particularly welcoming environment if you’re an investor in clean energy.

However just over half of all responders expect to employ more staff in the next 12 months.

Picture: Clean Energy Council

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