Dave Sharma (Wentworth, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Earlier today I was able to speak to the newly appointed chair of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, ARENA, Mr Justin Punch, a constituent of mine in Wentworth, who brings to the role of chair a wealth of experience in environmental investing focused on climate and energy. I want to take this opportunity to thank Martijn Wilder, as the outgoing chair, and other outgoing board members of ARENA for their service. They have led ARENA through a transformative period in Australia's energy landscape.

ARENA has played an instrumental role in delivering significant improvements in the competitiveness of renewable energy technologies such as large-scale solar, grid-scale batteries, bioenergy and distributed energy technologies. Its track record is impressive. Since its creation, ARENA has committed $1.58 billion of funding towards 543 renewable projects; $236 million to projects that support integration of renewable energy into the grid; $105 million for energy storage projects, including batteries and pumped hydro; and $703 million to support research, development and deployment of solar photovoltaic projects on a large scale. This seed investment by ARENA has helped unlock a total investment of almost $5.5 billion in Australia's renewable energy industry, a leverage ratio of almost one to three.

ARENA's purpose is to accelerate Australia's shift to renewable energy that is both affordable and reliable, and, measured against this purpose, ARENA is succeeding. Solar power generation in Australia was up 46 per cent last year, wind power generation was up 19 per cent last year, and Australia's deployment of wind and solar is happening at 10 times the global average—10 times faster than the global average. In the first weeks of 2020 in Australia, we ticked past 25 gigawatts of wind and solar generation, meaning we are one of only three countries in the world to have more than one kilowatt per capita of renewable energy generation capacity. More surprisingly, nearly 40 per cent of this capacity in Australia has been installed in the past two years. Last year alone, we had $9 billion invested in 6.3 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity.

AEMO, the Australian Energy Market Operator, in its recently published 2020 Integrated System Plan, predicts that renewable energy will supply as much as 90 per cent of the National Electricity Market by 2035. The report says:

On certain measures, the rate of change in Australia is the fastest of any country in the world.

The challenge here for us, as the report outlines, is to invest in the transmission, the firming and the storage assets to allow this much higher share of renewable energy in the grid and to smooth out what is the intermittent nature of wind and solar. This is where ARENA's investments come in so importantly in projects to support pumped hydro, large-scale battery systems and distributed energy resources. It's also why the Clean Energy Finance Corporation's Grid Reliability Fund introduced into parliament this week is so important. It will provide an additional $1 billion to invest in energy storage projects, including pumped hydro and batteries, transmission and distribution infrastructure.

Our energy system is in transition to a lower carbon future. It's a transition driven by technology and market forces. It's a transition that we should all welcome. The role of government here is to smooth and accelerate this transition and to help spur it on in areas that might be lagging. That's why I believe it's important that ARENA continue to play a pivotal role in supporting our clean energy transition and that its funding be renewed. I've made this view known to the energy minister, the member for Hume, and I know it's under consideration by the government.

We're still only in the early stages of this transition. Whilst we are now doing well in rolling out affordable renewable energy generation, it's the second-order challenges we need ARENA to focus on: how to manage a system powered by significantly more renewable energy; how to reduce emissions in harder-to-abate sectors, particularly industry and transport; how to position ourselves to be a global exporter of hydrogen; and how to exploit Australia's full potential to be a renewable energy superpower. ARENA will have a critical role to play in this path ahead.

ARENA's funding is guaranteed until 2022, and the government has always said that ARENA's funding will be addressed in the most appropriate budget context. I will continue to work with the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction on this important issue to ensure that ARENA has the funding and the certainty to continue to play an important role in our energy transition ahead. ARENA will be a vital partner in delivering our priorities as part of the Technology Investment Roadmap, and I wish Justin Punch and the entire new board of ARENA the very best for their task ahead.