Five things we learned from… Clean Energy Week by Giles Parkinson

The principal theme of the Clean Energy Week conference in Sydney was the protection of the Renewable Energy Target. At first blush, that was achieved, with each of the major parties declaring their support. But support for what, exactly? The question lingers as to whether that was 41,00 gigawatt hours of renewable energy inscribed in the legislation, to add to the 15,000GWh of mostly hydro that was built previously, or a notional percentage that is being pushed for by some parties.

Climate Change Minister Combet said it was the legislation he was defending, but despite numerous prompts couldn’t bring himself to say the words "41,000." Coalition energy spokesman Ian Macfarlane was more evasive, saying only 20 per cent, but wouldn’t say 20 per cent of what.

For many at the conference, this left lingering concerns that the RET could yet be tampered with. The fixed target has already been reduced once to account for larger than expected deployment of rooftop solar. Could that happen again? Would the demand equation come into play?

Some wondered why the clean energy industry doesn’t take a leaf out of the mining and the high emitting industries and push aggressively for an even higher target. That could serve two purposes – to develop a longer-term narrative about a clean energy future (after all, the move to decarbonisation does not stop in 2020), rather than being defensive about a policy which is being painted  in many quarters as expensive and pointless. And to give them negotiating room to manoeuvre. Perhaps what the industry needs is a Mitch Hooke-type character scaring the daylights out of Australians on the prospects for the country if it did not embrace wind and solar.