Australia could miss its renewable energy target without a big acceleration in financial commitments for new electricity generation in coming months.
The investment readout from the Clean Energy Council, released on Tuesday, showed financially committed renewable generation projects at 1.6 gigawatts so far in 2024, surpassing 2023’s woeful total of 1.3GW when solar and wind farms flatlined.
But a pick-up in financial sign-offs in the remaining months of the year is needed to reach the required run rate of 6-7GW per year to achieve 82 per cent renewable energy generation by the end of 2030.
Some 215 generation and storage projects have been commissioned since 2017, providing more than 16 gigawatts of installed electricity generation capacity and 1.8GW of storage, according to industry data.
But proponents are facing higher financing and supply chain costs, a tangle of red and green tape delaying approvals, and a transmission network that can’t cope after a decade of under-investment.
Investors are also awaiting the result of the first tenders under the extended federal Capacity Investment scheme that is meant to support an additional 32GW of capacity by 2030.
The scheme underwrites successful projects with an agreed revenue “floor and ceiling” to reduce financial risks and encourage more investment, particularly in states such as NSW with a reliability gap.
Some 577 megawatts of onshore wind reached financial commitment in the three months to June 30, after no onshore wind projects reached the milestone in 2023.
Big batteries continued their “remarkable run” in the most recent quarter, the peak body’s chief executive Kane Thornton said, demonstrating that a record-breaking 2023 was not a one-off.
The largest of the six projects – totalling 573MW of capacity and 2047MW hours of energy output – was the four-hour Stanwell Big Battery in Queensland at 300MW/1200MWh.
Construction commenced on 1.1GW of generation projects and five big battery projects, while two projects were connected to the grid at Kathleen Valley in Western Australia and Broken Hill in NSW.
Mr Thornton welcomed the recovery in investment in large-scale generation.
But he warned Australia was “not yet at the levels we need to see” to drive down power prices and have energy security.
