Axing Renewable Energy Target will axe jobs, says RAA

The REC Agents Association (RAA), an industry body for companies trading in renewable energy certificates, has commissioned an analysis into the potential abolition of the Renewable Energy Target (RET), which found that it could result in the loss of up to 6750 jobs.

Industry experts Solar Business Services outlined the future of the solar PV industry, projected to 2018, under three scenarios:

• No policy change: business as usual, floating carbon price, slightly higher exchange rate and lower PV prices;
• Cut to the RET: RET adjusted downwards, cuts to the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) and carbon price abolished;
• RET abolished.

The analysis used a number of variables to assess their potential impact on the solar market. Changes to the RET had the single largest impact on market uptake, particularly if abolished completely and early.

“If the Renewable Energy Target is axed, 2000 jobs could be lost straight away and thousands of new jobs would not be created,” said Fiona O’Hehir, Vice-President of RAA and CEO of Greenbank Environmental.

“Cutting the Renewable Energy Target would also have severe consequences,” she continued. “Six hundred jobs could be lost next year with a cut to the RET.”

Cuts to the SRES would also impact those Australian families who wish to install solar panels. By 2015, the scheme will cost just $6.50 out of an average $500 a quarter power bill; a price which is further lowered by the reduction in the wholesale cost of electricity delivered by solar.

Solar is currently reducing the power bills of almost 5 million Australians, while the industry last year employed 17,000 people across 4300 small and medium-sized businesses from all around the country.

“Axing the RET is on the government’s agenda,” said O’Hehir, “and they need to understand this would have a diabolical impact on jobs, industry and the hundreds of thousands of Australians who want to put solar on their homes.”

The full report can be found here.