$2 Billion Windfall for Publicly-Owned Renewables Celebrated
10 June 2021: $2 Billion Windfall for Publicly-Owned Renewables Celebrated
Today the Queensland government has announced $2 billion for government-owned corporations to build, own and operate new renewable energy and storage projects, a move that is celebrated by community group Solar Citizens.
The Electrical Trades Union, Queensland Community Alliance and Solar Citizens have all been campaigning for additional funding for publicly-owned renewable energy before the upcoming State budget. The $2 billion has been allocated to the Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Jobs Fund.
“The Queensland government has listened to the community and is acting on their commitment to keep the majority of Queensland’s electricity supply in public hands,” said Ellen Roberts, National Director at Solar Citizens.
“This $2 billion in funding will benefit all Queenslanders by helping to drive down the cost of electricity while ensuring that state-owned energy assets keep delivering returns to Queenslanders for decades to come.
“Right now we’re seeing Queensland’s coal power stations struggling to remain profitable as more cheap renewables come online, so the smartest thing the State government can do is diversify and invest in the next generation of energy.
“Investing in clean energy storage, like battery storage, pumped hydro and renewable hydrogen, can create thousands of regional jobs and unlock cheap solar energy at all hours of the day.
“More storage will also ease congestion on the grid so that Queenslanders can keep installing record rates of rooftop solar on their homes and businesses.
“The Queensland government has demonstrated with this announcement that they’re thinking ahead and planning for a prosperous future for Queenslanders.”
A new analysis commissioned by Solar Citizens found that replacing Queensland’s 7.2GW of state-owned coal generation with 100% renewable energy would require 7.1GW of solar PV and 10.1GW of wind capacity as well as 4GW/ 103GWh of supporting energy storage.
$2 billion in funding is enough to build approximately:
- 1,700MW of new large-scale solar; or
- 1,140MW of new wind; or
- 860MW of new pumped hydro
[ENDS]
Media contact: Ellen Roberts 0408 583 694
Ellen is available in Townsville today to make comment.
