An additional $20.5 billion allocated to green bank the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) in the May federal budget, will mostly go to a program intended to promote rebuilding electricity transmission infrastructure for renewable energy.
The $19 billion Rewiring the Nation program was estimated by Labor twelve months ago to have the potential to unlock $58 billion of private co-financing.
The federal government is targeting 82% renewable energy by 2030.
One billion dollars will be used to set up a Household Energy Upgrades Fund, which will provide discounted consumer finance to increase sustainability across the housing sector.
Five hundred million dollars will be used to set up a Powering Australia Technology Fund which will support the development, commercialisation and take up of clean energy opportunities.
The new capital is the first for the CEFC since it was established, with an allocation of $10 billion, in 2012.
CEFC chief executive Ian Learmonth says the new capital, which was recently passed by federal parliament, is a welcome endorsement of the organisation’s investment expertise demonstrated over its first decade and will drive a significant expansion in its responsibilities.
“The CEFC will continue to make a significant contribution to the achievement of net zero emissions by 2050, an ambitious and important national goal that will transform our economy and improve our environment,” Learmonth said.
The Rewiring the Nation (RTN) program will invest in high voltage transmission, long duration grid storage and electricity distribution network infrastructure. The CEFC will be the finance arm of the program while the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) will be a technical adviser.
The CEFC expects to make its first RTN-related investment decisions this year and is optimistic that these will be alongside private co-investors.
The $1 billion Household Energy Upgrades Fund will provide discounted consumer finance to boost sustainability across the housing sector including through investment in energy efficiency upgrades, high performing appliances and battery-ready solar photovoltaics. The CEFC plans to work alongside banks and other established lenders in the sector to deliver the program to consumers, as it already does for clean energy assets.
The Powering Australia Technology Fund (PATF) is designed to accelerate investment in very early-stage through to growth-stage businesses that are commercialising technologies that have the potential to accelerate the transition to net zero emissions by 2050. The CEFC plans to use the fund, which will invest at fund and enterprise level, to boost support for cleantech investment and help build a specialist investment ecosystem to accelerate the transition to clean energy.
PATF will invest in a broad range of technologies and industry sectors such as energy generation, including solar, wind, waste to energy, energy storage and low- and no-carbon fuels; the built environment, including energy efficient building materials, modular buildings and building management systems; transport systems and electric vehicles; and sustainable land use and land management practices.
Image: The $19 billion Rewiring the Nation program is expected to unlock far more in private sector investment for restructuring the electricity grid.