Ho hum

14 May 2010

When Wayne Swan mentioned renewable energy in the opening comments of his annual federal budget this week, I’ll admit I may have sat forward in my chair. But as the details have come out over the past few days, it’s become clear that for us and our clients this year’s budget is a bit of a non-event in the short-to-medium term. However, to be fair it wasn’t all hyperbole because we’ll see some support from the following:

• $652.5 million for renewable energy over the next 4 years for the establishment of the Renewable Energy Future Fund. This money was earmarked for the CPRS (once the government’s golden child, now relegated to the position of ugly cousin).
• The fund aims to increase support for both large and small scale renewable energy projects and to enhance take-up energy efficiency across industrial, residential and commercial sectors.
• 600,000 more home sustainability assessments under the Green Loans program.
• 10,000 training places each year across the entire economy, but with an initial focus on key industries including renewable energy.

The other news from Canberra this week is that we seem to be one step closer to the new RET scheme. The expanded RET legislation, which will split the RET into small scale and large scale technologies, has been introduced into Parliament. Hot off the press this afternoon, a senate committee is now inviting submissions and we’ll provide more info about what you can do next week.