The Labor government's re-election will see Australia’s rapid shift to renewable energy continue at pace. The renewable energy industry is preparing to increase investment with the guarantee of at least three and possibly six years of policy certainty around energy transition.
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00:00policy does play a big role in renewable investments all around the world and in Australia
00:07as well and that's based on government's commitments to recognise we've got to address
00:13climate change and reduce emissions across the economy but also investors see the opportunity
00:19and the global trends that consumers also recognise this need and technology such as renewables can
00:25do the job of providing stable lower cost energy and address those needs so it's a combination
00:33of investor sense of opportunity and long-term trends and a key role of policy in redirecting
00:39economies to to meet those global goals okay so taking into account the convincing labor victory
00:46over the weekend what can be expected with that investment in large-scale projects over the coming
00:51years we expect continuing increased investment in renewables large-scale and small-scale as well
01:00so Australia of course is one of the sunniest and windiest planets countries on the planet and has
01:06huge opportunity but it's not the only country investing big in renewables here in Singapore
01:12there are the biggest investors in the world are coming together to increase their investments in
01:19clean energy all around this region and at home we know that a lot of policies have been put in place
01:25in Australia and new ones including the future made in Australia policy for example which recognises
01:31that switching to renewables is not just about the electricity we've got now and replacing the
01:37ageing coal-fired power stations but also building the grid for the future and that's when the entire
01:42economy serves a net zero global economy so our mining and manufacturing sectors are also powered with
01:48renewables and so is the transport sector and so that will mean increasing investment in renewable energy
01:54for many decades to come and particularly um an urgent increase in the next five years to meet those
02:00retirement deadlines in the coal-fired power stations in in Australia in key regions and what about down to
02:06the individual resident level what's likely to happen with the take-up of solar and batteries
02:11well we know there's already huge take-up for solar in Australia and that will continue because the
02:18economic conditions are there and so is the opportunity but also there's new policies now a
02:23big new policy with the new government for battery uptake and household renewable electricity includes
02:30switching the transport use to electric vehicles and powering those with renewables and also upgrading the
02:37performance of energy inside the home so you can have solar on the roof and batteries to help store
02:42it but you don't want that energy leaking out the windows and walls and you want to use the energy when
02:47it's there so smart appliances hot water and heating can be set to use the electricity when it's available
02:54and stored when it's not and so we expect we'll see continued investment also in more sophisticated
02:59software to help us make the most of that so it sounds like from what you're saying there is kind of a bit of an
03:05unstoppable surge towards renewables anyway anyway but to what extent has the the labor victory on the
03:12weekend meant that there will be extra investment in renewables over the coming three to six years
03:23we do expect to see extra that's not just because uh part of the government's re-election policy
03:28included some new investment particularly for household battery scale but also because there is continued
03:34effort at state government level and in industry and industries is continuously improving the
03:39performance of these technologies we know long-term battery storage for example is key to helping meet
03:44those coal fire power station breakdowns that get ahead of that and be ready when they retire and the
03:49technology is doubling every few years it used to be that two hours was a good size for a really grid
03:55scale battery now four hours is being financed and already eight hours is being discussed by industry so there
04:01is increasing interest and we would expect industry to invest further now recognizing that there's been
04:07a a public vote to support continued direction of the current government's policies for increased
04:15renewables and achieving those net zero goals so what's the likelihood now that australia will get to
04:20the labor target of 82 percent of electricity coming from solar wind and hydro by 2030 well australia's almost at 50
04:28percent renewables already and we know it's absolutely achieve achievable to reach 80 and more remembering
04:35a net zero economy goes well beyond 80 and into the early 2030s we would see not just the existing
04:42electricity system be almost fully renewable powered with storage from batteries and firmed by a little
04:48bit of gas but also our mining and manufacturing sectors starting to move to renewables as well so we're
04:54already seeing really large-scale industries such as aluminium and chemicals production writing enormous
05:00contracts with large-scale solar and wind farms to power their operations that's what we'll see a lot
05:06more of in the 2030s and and for the rest of the 2020s we'll see continued increase in replacing the coal
05:13that's already in the system with renewables onshore and then we'll see an increased move to offshore so
05:18these uh increased uh increased renewable trends will continue to um we'll see continued growth in that
05:24and what's it like for you to be at that conference in singapore now what's the vibe you're getting
05:28about the global push towards renewable newables are taking into account what's happened in the us
05:36really the the vibe is really positive uh this this conference is supported by the singaporean
05:41government it's attracted people from europe and america and all across asia uh and um
05:48indeed many of those nations are investing more than australia is in renewables projects in this
05:53asian region and the global headwinds around economic uncertainty has been mentioned but
05:58actually what's been mentioned more is the fundamental race that nature is creating uh that the southeast
06:05asia in particular faces great risks from climate change and the investors here are wanting to get
06:09ahead of that and help protect the resilience of their own cities and infrastructure by ensuring that
06:15they can also power their electricity grids with uh reliable renewables and and create long-term
06:21contracts with to secure their own energy in a way that helps avoid all the volatility that you get from
06:27fossil fuel prices so there's actually a lot of innovation here looking at clean energy and also
06:33uh nature-based solutions um across agriculture and fisheries and transport as well
06:47you