$1 Billion Clean Energy Investment

I received an email from our MP of Wentworth, David Sharma on Friday, who shared with me the Governments plan to invest $1 Billion into new capital investment into Renewables. I am encouraged by this initiative to embrace the technology available and market forces and work together with Industry, Universities and Research Institutions such as the CSIRO to making the transition to a lower carbon future, possible. Human-induced climate change is clearly a major issue "More Renewables in the grid requires more investment  — to keep reliability high and prices steady given the intermittent nature of solar and wind." said David Sharma - MP of Wentworth. As part of the Government's plan to make energy more affordable, reliable and clean, they are providing  the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) with $1 billion in new capital to invest in reliable energy via generation energy storage, grid capacity, and network infrastructure. The fund will invest in the following  eligible projects: energy storage projects including pumped hydro and batteries transmission and distribution networks grid stabilising technologies, and eligible projects shortlisted under the Underwriting New Generation Investments (UNGI) program. Australia's deployment of Solar and Wind  It is a remarkable fact that Australia’s deployment of solar and wind energy is happening at ten times faster than the world average. In the first weeks of 2020, Australia will tick past 25 gigawatts of wind and solar generation, meaning we will have joined the "kilowatt per capita" club. Only two other countries have made it thus far: Denmark and Germany.  New technology, market forces and human behaviour are shifting our emissions curve in the right direction, as a report last week from the Australian National University makes clear. The ANU report found that “Australia’s world-leading per-capita rate of deployment of solar and wind energy is displacing fossil fuel combustion”, and that “continued deployment of solar and wind at current rates allows Australia to meet its Paris emissions target at low or zero net cost”.   As the ANU report outlines, the main challenge for government is to “facilitate construction of adequate electricity transmission and storage to allow continued rapid deployment of solar and wind”. The Government is supporting the following initiatives in Energy Transmission and Storage :-  Investment in Snowy 2.0, a pumped hydro storage project that will be the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, and which will store 350,000 MW hours of energy. Investment in the building of  a second interconnecter between Victoria and Tasmania, better connecting Tasmania to the mainland grid and giving us access to its considerable pumped hydro capacity. Earlier this week the Prime Minister and NSW Premier announced a joint underwriting of the New South Wales - Queensland interconnector, another vital piece of network infrastructure which will strengthen the backbone of the national energy market. The Chief Scientist, Alan Finkel, is working on a hydrogen strategy and advising us on how we can become a major exporter of hydrogen produced from renewable sources.  Down the track, they will be looking at options for further electrification of the economy, particularly in the transport sector, to take greater advantage of low-emissions energy. Our energy system is  in transition towards a lower carbon future, driven by technology, the continued decline in price for Renewables, and market forces. This is an exciting time to be living on this planet!