MEDIA RELEASE
23 July 2010
Gillard connects to deliver a clean energy future
NATIONAL: The Gillard Government has made an important step towards delivering a smart green grid for
Australia with today’s announcement of its Connecting Renewables initiative.
Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Matthew Warren said the new $1 billion investment was targeted,
effective and responsible.
“It will drive down the cost of renewable energy by enabling the best projects to connect to the grid,” said Mr
Warren.
“Conventional fossil fuel power stations have never paid to connect to the grid, because the grid was built
around them. Our ability to quickly and affordably decarbonise energy generation in Australia will depend on
our ability to get a diverse range of clean energy generation into the grid.
“Many of these projects face significant network connection costs that will delay or even halt investment.
Connecting Renewables will play an important role in bridging that gap.”
Mr Warren said more than $20 billion will be invested in new clean energy generation, much of it in regional
and remote Australia. Evolution to a smart green grid will require ongoing development of new rules for
network investment and more flexibility to the changing generation mix.
The cheapest and most efficient solution will allow the network to make the most of energy efficiency gains
from smart grids and meters as well as energy from the rain, the sun and the wind.
The Clean Energy Council also welcomed the Gillard Government’s commitment to a $100 million renewable
energy venture capital fund to help accelerate the development of emerging clean energy technologies
including geothermal, wave and large scale solar thermal energy.
“We need to accelerate the development of these exciting emerging technologies, to find out what
contribution they can make to our clean energy future,” Mr Warren said.
“Many of these emerging technology companies have been doing it tough. This is the beginning of a more
sophisticated response to a challenging problem.”
For media enquiries please call Mark Bretherton 0413 556 981 or 03 9929 4111
The Clean Energy Council is the peak body for the clean energy sector. It is working with all Australian
governments to drive the development of clean energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, hydro,
wave, bioenergy and cogeneration.
Suite 201, 18 Kavanagh Street, Southbank 3006, Australia
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info@cleanenergycouncil.org.au
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+61 3 9929 4100
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