Renewable energy gets a big boost Down Under as Australia creates the independent Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced July 8, 2011 by Christine Milne, Australian Greens deputy leader, in Canberra.
Milne reportedly explained that she was the one announcing the agency instead of the government because it resulted from their arguments in the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee. She is quoted as sating that “It has been obvious for years that renewable energy programs in Australia are a mess of badly-designed schemes run as photo opportunities rather than helping build the industry. ARENA will change all that.”
On the other hand, some reports present the side of the government, reporting that Energy Minister Martin Ferguson and Climate Minister Greg Combet had issued a joint statement that "The government has a strong record of delivering support to our renewable sector and ensuring that Australians get value for money on their investments."
They are said to have included in their statement that "The establishment of ARENA will build on this record."
At least both sides agree that ARENA sill bring better things for renewable energy.
The reports give ARENA's working budget at $3.2 billion in renewable energy funding. This includes taking over the management of existing projects: Solar Flagships Round 1; Renewable Energy Demonstration Program; ACRE Solar Projects; Geothermal Drilling Program projects; Australian Biofuels Research Institute (ABRI) initiatives; Emerging Renewables Program; Renewable Energy Venture Capital Fund; Australian Solar Institute; Low Emissions Technology Demonstration Fund (Solar); Second Generation Biofuels Research and Development Program; and unallocated funding from the Connecting Renewables Initiative.
The ministers' joint statement clarifies that “Around $1.7 billion in uncommitted funding from the range of consolidated programs will be available for the ARENA Board to direct investment in new renewable energy projects between now and 2020.”
Initiatives will include solar, geothermal, and biofuel development.
Meanwhile, as Australia is waiting for the announcement of the governments carbon tax policy on Sunday, the reports about ARENA are rife with issues of politics and dealing and power plays.
We can just hope that ARENA doesn't become merely a political arena for Australia, but become a working agency that will push renewable energy forward, benefiting not just Australia, but the rest of the world. After all, even if Australia is a bit away down under, global warming is still global
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