Australia agrees renewables target

• 9 years ago (2015-05-20)
• Junior Isles

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The Australian government has agreed a deal on a new Renewable Energy Target (RET) after nearly two years of political debate. The government has says it will  reduce the RET to 33 000 GWh by 2020.

The 33 000 GWh, however, target falls short of the 41 000 GWh that was being campaigned for by experts and some officials.

In addition to agreeing to a reduced RET, the government also consented to removing a provision under which the government proposed to review the RET scheme every two years. Instead of a formal review, the opposing Labor Party agreed to allow the Clean Energy Regulator to monitor the target with annual statements on progress.

The new deal means that the amount of new large-scale renewable energy to be installed between now and 2020 has been reduced from about 8500 MW to 5500 MW.