Report finds clean energy investment has stalled
The level of new investment commitments in large-scale renewable energy projects has collapsed by more than 50 per cent according to new analysis by the Clean Energy Council
While the strong flow of projects that were committed in 2017 and 2018 are now coming online, the pipeline of new projects commencing construction has dropped significantly due to the stalling of commitments in 2019.
This reduced investment confidence was reflected in the Clean Energy Council’s (CEC) recent Clean Energy Outlook Index which revealed a fall from 51 projects worth $10.7 billion in 2018 down to 28 projects worth $4.5 billion in 2019.
According to the CEC, the top reasons for a decline in investor confidence were grid connection issues, a lack of strong national energy and climate policy and network congestions and constraints.
Many of the rules relating to grid connection, network investment and market design are no longer fit-for-purpose and are a significant deterrent to potential investors explains Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Kane Thornton.
“These issues need to be resolved urgently if Australia hopes to attract investors and ensure the necessary level of new energy generation capacity," Mr Thornton said.
“A continued slow-down in new investment will put greater pressure on reliability and power prices as Australia’s old coal-fired power stations continue to close. New investment is critical to replacing these coal-fired power stations and delivering on Australia’s emission reduction targets."
