“The Fund is designed to provide early support for the development of renewable energy technologies in Australia and complements other government initiatives such as the mechanism to price carbon” Ms Jeanes said in Adelaide today.

“AGEA welcomes the specific reference by the Minister in launching the Fund that around a third will be targeted to support geothermal projects.

“The $126m announced today for all renewable energy technologies is less than a quarter of what the geothermal energy industry alone needs to reach commercialisation in the Australian energy market.  The industry awaits further policy development through the process initiated last year by the Australian Centre for Renewable Energy (ACRE) to identify the needs of the geothermal energy sector.

“Geothermal energy is widely predicted to be the cheapest form of clean energy into the future.  It is the only baseload renewable technology on the horizon with the capability to replace the large coal generators operating in the market now over the longer term.

“Potential investors in renewable technologies that are either new to Australia or that can still benefit from improved technology breakthroughs need to see that government is prepared to bear its share of the technology and resource risk in early projects and today’s announcement provides a start along this road”, Susan Jeanes said today.

For further information contact: Ms Susan Jeanes on 0419 833 556 and susan@agea.org.au





more information

Download Attachment