Effective policy to achieve the Australian Government’s commitment to 82 per cent renewable energy by 2030
Tim Nelson, Tahlia Nolan, Joel Gilmore
Abstract
Australian climate change policy has been fraught for at least two decades. Around a decade ago, Nelson et al. (Citation2010) estimated that carbon policy uncertainty would result in electricity prices being $8.60 per MWh higher than necessary. Sadly, the study significantly underestimated both the policy gyrations that would occur and the associated costs. The only effective and enduring national policy has been the 20 per cent Renewable Energy Target. Additional frameworks have been established at the state government level which incentivise further investment in renewable energy. However, there is still no overarching national framework. In this article, we model the National Electricity Market to determine whether existing policies will achieve the Australian Government’s target of 82 per cent renewable energy by 2030. We find that there is indeed a gap of ∼10 per cent and that extending the Renewable Energy Target architecture is the obvious and most equitable solution for energy consumers.