Australia’s Clean Energy Investment Faces Delayed Coal Exit Risk
(Bloomberg) -- Uncertainty over when exactly Australia’s vast but aging coal-fired power fleet will retire is hampering investment in clean-energy projects and threatening the nation’s ambitious decarbonization goals.
Greater clarity around the retirement of coal-fired power stations was the second-most effective policy measure that would allow greater investment in renewables, the Clean Energy Investor Group said in its annual survey of members. It only trailed addressing transmission buildout delays, the industry body said.
About three-quarters of Australia’s aging coal-fired power stations could close by 2035, according to estimates by BloombergNEF. However, plans to keep the plants open for longer have made it harder for investors to judge when replacement wind, solar and battery projects will be needed.
“If you’re serious about the transition, you will have to make some harder calls,” Richie Merzian, chief executive officer of the Clean Energy Investor Group, said in an interview. “You can’t just continually kick the can down the road.”
Although most investors still saw Australia as an attractive place to fund new projects, just 8% of respondents thought the country was on track to meet its target to get 82% of its electricity from renewables by 2030, according to the report.
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