The Australian Government and the RET – settled at last

After years of political wrangling, the Abbott government has finally settled on a Renewable Energy Target – 33,000GWH. Labor was pushing for a minimum of 35,000GWH, but this is better than nothing. Most importantly, it finally means that the solar industry (and investors) in Australia have certainty regarding the RET.

This means that investments can now be made in large-scale renewable energy projects without the fear of the Government pulling the rug out from under them.

It also means that the solar ‘rebate’ for Australian homeowners and small businesses is safe for the foreseeable future.

Our friends over at Solar Business have done a great job of summarising the benefits of a decisive Government RET deal being reached:

• The Government has formally approved a Renewable Energy Target
• The Small Scale Solar program has been saved
• The Large Scale Solar program was trimmed but has been saved
• Support for residential solar is confirmed and unchanged
• Support for solar on businesses is confirmed and unchanged
• Systems up to 100kW are eligible for solar
• Australia’s solar citizens sent a powerful message to Government and they listened
• The entire solar industry worked together and successfully convinced Government to save solar
• Solar is about to grow through a new boom
• Investors can take confidence in what they are dealing with in the future
• Consumers can get financial support to install solar worth around 30% of the system cost
• Businesses can get financial support to install solar worth around 30% of the system cost and accelerated depreciation
• The solar industry is ready to deliver

This is a big deal for a number of reasons, but the biggest is that a RET deal reached by a Liberal government shows a level of support for solar that was previously non-existent from the Coalition – they took every chance they could to beat up on solar. Tony Abbott even claimed that renewable energy couldn’t power industry – something which Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, debunked quite convincingly. 

Now that the rebate is here to stay, there’s no better time than now to get quotes for solar while STC prices are as high as they’ll ever be and claim the maximum amount possible from the Government. To get up to 3 free quotes for solar from installers that I trust, simply click here