A day after the Lower House of Representatives of Australia passed the carbon tax plan, the government of PM Julia Gillard pushed further its goals of reinventing Australia into an environment-conscious nation.
Government announced the appointment of Jillian Broadbent to chair the panel working on the design of the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), as well as introduced two bills to establish the creation of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
Introduced by Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson, ARENA seeks to manage all the federal government’s renewable energy programs from July 2012 once the carbon tax law gets passed and ready for implementation. It will oversee administration for the $3.2 billion funding for renewable energy such as solar (including large scale solar), biomass, biofuels, ocean and geothermal. Of the total figure, $1.5 billion is earmarked to cover existing projects, while the remaining $1.7 billion is uncommitted.
ARENA will combine earlier initiatives undertaken by the Australian Centre for Renewable Energy, the Australia Solar Institute and the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism.
ARENA’s establishment is seen to bolster government’s efforts to achieve its goals that by 2020 at least 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity should have been generated from renewable energy sources.
Meanwhile, newly-appointed chair of CEFC Jillian Broadbent vowed only projects that are commercially viable will be supported by her organization as she vowed taxpayers’ interests will not be left prejudiced.
Critics are wary that the CEFC puts taxpayers’ funds at risk as its acts as a lender and investor for green energy projects.
”We will try very hard to spread the risk and determine what is commercially viable,” Broadbent told the Herald.
Broadbent and her review panel will work in close and frequent consultations with key stakeholders on the establishment and implementation of the CEFC, its investment mandates and risk management approaches as well as administrative arrangements.
It will submit its recommendations to the Government mid-March 2012, which will then aid drafting the legislation which Government hopes to submit for Parliament’s review next year. If approve, the CEFC will commence operations from 2013-14.
