The Albanese Government is turbocharging Australia’s energy transformation, with the 2022-23 Budget delivering long-overdue investment to make energy cleaner, cheaper, and more secure, create jobs in new industries and the regions and cut emissions. This is welcomed in the news, especially with the announcement of an expected 58 per cent price rise in power over the next two years.
The international fossil fuel crisis triggered by Russia’s illegal war has shown Australia the consequences of a decade of underinvestment in the cheapest form of new energy – firmed renewables.
The 2022-23 Budget will help put Australia back on track. It delivers critical action and records investments for cleaner, cheaper, more secure energy. This includes immediate action to keep the lights on and help put downward pressure on prices for households and businesses.
- Rewiring the Nation – $20 billion in low-cost finance for the urgent upgrade and expansion of Australia’s electricity grid at the lowest cost – to unlock new renewables, increase the grid’s security and drive down power prices. This includes more than $6 billion already announced to help build Marinus Link and VNI-West, which will unlock Tasmania’s Battery of the Nation and Victoria’s offshore wind and renewables industries.
- Powering the Regions – the regions that have always powered Australia are the same regions that will power us and the world throughout the global economic transformation – but only with the right investment. This Budget establishes the $1.9 billion Powering the Regions Fund, which will provide dedicated support to ensure traditional and new industries in regional Australia can harness the economic opportunities of decarbonisation. This Fund will support new jobs and long-term international competitiveness.
- National Energy Transformation Partnership – for the first time, there is an agreed national plan between the states, territories, and the Commonwealth to keep the lights on through Australia’s massive energy transformation. This includes delivering critical market reforms, supporting investments in the grid, such as large-scale storage and transmission, and helping to make homes and appliances more energy efficient.
Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Kane Thornton commented that this critical action taken by the Government would ultimately ease cost-of-living pressures.
“This is the medium-to-long-term Federal Government expenditure that our industry has long called for,” said Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Kane Thornton.
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the Budget implements the Government’s Powering Australia plan and prioritises energy market reforms for long-term reliability and affordability.
“This is Australia’s roadmap to delivering cleaner, more affordable energy to households and businesses – putting us on track to be a renewable energy superpower and ensuring we take advantage of the job and investment opportunities that have been missed for too long,” Minister Bowen said.
Sourced from –
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/federal-budget-renewables-mb2690/
