The Clean Energy Council has laid out a plan to leverage Australia’s renewable energy and energy storage potential to jumpstart the nation’s economic resurgence from the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Clean Recovery outlines a plan to leverage accelerated investment in renewables to drive Australia’s economic recovery.
The Clean Energy Council says that the current pipeline of investment could create over 50,000 new jobs, lower power prices, and inject over $50 billion worth of investment to revitalise economic activity in regional and rural communities.
Clean Energy Council Chief Executive, Kane Thornton, said that A Clean Recovery is an opportunity to transform Australia forever, cementing the nation’s position as a clean energy superpower.
“There are currently hundreds of large-scale wind and solar projects that have been identified with planning approval and are well placed to proceed quickly,” Mr Thornton said.
“Bringing forward these projects could deliver over $50 billion of investment, more than 30,000 MW of capacity and more than 50,000 new jobs in constructing these projects, along with many more indirect jobs.”
A Clean Recovery could also empower energy customers and drive down power prices, by supporting even more Australian homes and businesses going solar and installing household batteries and driving down their power bills.
“This isn’t about a handout for industry when government is directing scarce taxpayer funding to other essential services and areas,” Mr Thornton said.
“There is an enormous appetite for private investment in clean energy, that can be unlocked through smart regulatory reform, sensible energy policy and investment in the grid and energy storage.”
Adopting the measures laid out in A Clean Recovery would boost Australia’s economy with over $50 billion of new investment, tripling the amount of large-scale renewable energy installed in Australia, with the vast majority of projects located in rural and regional areas.
Crucially, it could also cement Australia’s position as a global energy superpower and leading exporter of renewable hydrogen, securing export revenue and jobs for the 21st century.
“A Clean Recovery could build on the recent success of clean energy. Over the past three years, there has been over $20 billion worth of new large-scale wind and solar projects committed, equating to 11,149 MW of capacity and creating over 14,000 new jobs,” Mr Thornton said.
Accelerating the clean energy transition remains a major challenge worldwide. For the Clean Energy Council, the massive disruption brought about by COVID-19 also creates an opportunity for Australia to accelerate this shift to clean energy and prepare the country for the future.
A Clean Recovery argues that renewable energy remains one of the few investments that can both deliver economic growth and carbon abatement.
The full plan for A Clean Recovery can be found here.
