The Clean Energy Council, as the peak body for the clean energy industry in Australia, is pleased and relieved state and territory ministers did not approve or rush through reforms that had the potential to exacerbate uncertainty and risk to investors in our sector.
Industry has serious concerns that the Energy Security Board’s original proposals to establish a capacity mechanism and introduce a congestion management model could undermine reliability, extend the life of existing coal generation and slow the transition to a clean energy system. Today, ministers have acknowledged these concerns.
The Clean Energy Council will work closely with market bodies to address the concerns of our industry and ensure any further reforms help facilitate the transition to a reliable, low-cost and clean energy system.
We welcome the ministers’ agreement on a range of other reforms that will help to modernise the Australian energy market and system and support this transition. In particular, continued progress in establishing essential system services and accelerating the reform of distributed energy resources should be a priority. A proposal to revise the National Energy Objective to recognise the imperative to reduce carbon emissions is also a welcome step.
ENDS