The Smart Energy Council, Clean Energy Investor Group and Climate Action Network Australia have united to urge federal and state energy ministers to establish a Renewable Energy Storage Acceleration Scheme to unleash investment in large-scale renewable energy storage.
Under the national scheme, the Australian government, in partnership with state governments, would undertake a series of tenders for large-scale renewable energy storage projects to meet forecast shortfalls in dispatchable generation and storage.
“We can’t get to 82 per cent renewables by 2030 unless we unleash renewable energy storage. And, when it comes to renewable energy storage, we need everything, everywhere, all at once,” said John Grimes, chief executive of the Smart Energy Council.
“We need everything from batteries on wheels in EV, to household battery systems, to unlocking massive investment in large-scale energy storage projects through a Renewable Energy Storage Acceleration Scheme.”
Proponents would bid a floor price for the project’s net revenue over a period of time, enabling them to obtain low-cost financing generally not available today, due to currently missing and perceived uncertainty in storage revenue streams.
On many occasions, the storage project would have net revenue far above the floor, resulting in no payments to government when their net revenues are high.
The scheme would also contain claw-back provisions, whereby the storage projects would make return payments to government when their net revenues are high.
“The Renewable Energy Storage Acceleration Scheme delivers fast, proven and cost-effective renewable energy storage and provides exactly the right signals to investors,” said Simon Corbell, chair of the Clean Energy Investor Group.
“The scheme also retains strong incentives for owners of storage assets to pursue other revenue streams, thereby reducing risk to consumers and taxpayers.”
According to Glen Klatovsky, CEO of Climate Action Network Australia, renewable energy is critical to climate action.
“A Renewable Energy Storage Acceleration Scheme provides governments with a genuine way to make sure energy storage is operating and ready to go as our old, polluting coal-fired power stations retire,” Klatovsky added.
“We urge energy ministers to put in place a Renewable Energy Storage Acceleration Scheme before the end of the year.”
A brief note on the Renewable Energy Storage Acceleration Scheme can be found here.