Progress!! Australia Boldly Moves To Cut Renewable Target By At Least 1/2; Wind Firm Sacks 100
Oh, dear, this is going to get ugly. Very ugly. Australia is poised to become the first country in the world to reduce the ambition of its renewable energy target – either through a deal between the Coalition and other parties. Or by default.
Only in Australia, one imagines, can a proposal by the government to slash the country’s renewable energy target by more than half be proclaimed by the “experts” as a “victory” for the moderates. Such is the toxic nature of this government’s antipathy to all things clean and green, and wind farms in particular. Welcome to Team Australia. Open to vested interests.
Devastation for the renewable energy industry appears to be the only outcome for the political manoeuverings going on in Canberra. As if this was not evident enough, Keppel Prince – the largest manufacturer of wind towers in the country – mothballed its business and sacked 100 staff on Thursday.
It’s a decision that reflects the grim reality – there will be precious few, if any, new wind farms built in Australia in coming years. The Coalition government and its anti-wind element simply won’t allow it. And it is the simple mechanics of what is happening now in the federal policy area. The Coalition knows through its policy of obfuscation that even with a “something is better than nothing” approach, the industry will wither on the vine. The only way to encourage investment is for the Coalition to agree to a robust target – something it has no intention of doing. Even a compromise deal – something rather than nothing – is unlikely before 2015, because there are only two weeks left for the parliament to sit.
EDIT
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/renewable-energy-target-about-to-get-an-abbott-style-haircut-98671
