Page 2700 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 15 August 2017
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
As well as tabling the review document I would like to table the government’s response to its key recommendations. Both this document and the review itself will be published on the website of the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate. This information is relevant to many governments across Australia and the world, following the ACT government’s leadership in the use of reverse auctions. The review made nine recommendations, two of which are duplicates of each other. Of these, the government fully agrees with the following: to review the risk of excessive concentration in future auctions; and the possibility that feed-in tariff entitlement holders may surrender their entitlements needs to be explicitly considered. The government considers responding to these recommendations will contribute to ensuring effective, best practice auction processes.
The government agrees in part with all remaining recommendations, which are: in future auctions specialist consultants should consider the energy storage contribution and its value for money impact on ACT electricity consumers; the uncertainties that are associated with the various elements of the ACT’s 100 per cent by 2020 renewable electricity target should be given more consideration in any future auction; members of the advisory panel and subpanels of any future auction should have both subject matter and industry expertise; the act should make clear that large generation certificates created under it that are transferred to the ACT government must be voluntarily surrendered; the wholesale electricity price reference point for the ACT’s feed-in tariff payment settlements should be New South Wales instead of the reference point in each feed-in tariff supported generator’s host state; and the energy storage contribution in the next generation renewables auction should be included in the act.
The government has noted the recommendation that the act should make clear that the large generation certificates that are transferred to the ACT government must be voluntarily surrendered. The government has committed to the voluntary surrender of the LGC’s transferred to it by the renewable electricity generators supported by its large-scale feed-in tariff program. It retains the right to reconsider whether this remains appropriate in the context of the current review being conducted by the commonwealth government of its climate change polices or other matters as the case requires. The ACT government is awaiting the outcome of the commonwealth government’s current review of Australia’s climate change policies before it can have certainty that voluntary surrenders will necessarily add to the national emission reduction effort.
With respect to the recommendations the government agrees to in part, it is appropriate that uncertainties about the various elements of the ACT’s 100 per cent by 2020 renewable electricity target should be recognised and assessed. The uncertainties need to be bound by reasonable tolerances. It also appropriate that members of the advisory panel and subpanels of any future auction should have both subject matter and industry expertise; however, this may be constrained by possible conflicts of interest.
In relation to which wholesale price reference node is used to settle FiT payments, the government considers that allowing renewable energy generators to settle their
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video