WELCOME John Grimes, Chief Executive Smart Energy Council
IT FEELS LIKE everything has changed. The Climate Bill is now law, fuel efficiency standards are being reviewed federally, Queensland and Victoria have set fantastic renewable energy targets (along with strong plans to get there), and much more. Coal generator closures are being announced one after another, and all much sooner than many forecast. I am just so pleased to be finally focused on the real task at hand, delivering a smart energy roll out on a scale and against a timeframe never seen before. Customers big and small are ‘all in’ and massive energy bills will drive even more
IN MY VIEW
Eytan Lenko, Chief Executive, Boundless
JEFF BEZOS famously said that all ‘overnight’
won the argument that climate action is good
successes take 10 years. That is certainly
for the economy and jobs.
true for the smart energy sector, where we
It helps that the last federal election showed
have seen years of hard work and advocacy
clearly that the community is impatient for
spectacularly paying off with an incredible list
change and will take matters into their own
of initiatives and leaps forward over the past
hands if necessary.
few months. Just a few examples of this are: • • •
•
helping to make all of these incredible things
emissions reduction targets
happen. So we now shift into a new phase where
Renewable Storage Target
governments, businesses and the community
The Queensland Energy Plan was
all understand that we are going to do this,
announced, bringing forward coal closures
that we are racing towards a zero emissions
and rapidly building out renewables
economy. And the penny is dropping that there
The Victorian government announced its
is a lot to do!
intention to legislate for 80% emission •
The Smart Energy Council and its members should be congratulated for their role in
Australia significantly raised its 2030 Victoria announced an ambitious
It is easy to be overwhelmed at the scale of
reductions by 2035, and
what needs to be built, retrofitted and replaced
The federal budget allocated $25bn for
over the next 20 years. The best antidote to
climate initiatives
that is to simply take steps forward.
What is really interesting to reflect on is the lack of push back or opposition to any of these ambitious measures. We have well and truly
“The Smart Energy Council and its members should be congratulated for their role in helping to make all of these incredible things happen.” 2 SUMMER 2022
people to install cheap, clean, renewable energy at every scale. Smart energy companies across the country are well and truly up for the challenge. They are experiencing rapid growth in what was once a fringe industry but is now at the centre of our national policy. The year 2022 marks the point when we stopped having to fight governments from dragging us backwards, and instead we have got on to the most pressing work of all: delivering for the economy and for the planet. A truly inspiring group of people are doing the hard work of transitioning our entire economy to a zero-carbon future.
Many climate solutions have a technology basis and follow Wright’s law, which says that the more we deploy, the cheaper a technology can be. Our job is to deploy wherever and whenever we can in order to trigger tipping points, as we have seen with solar energy and LED lighting, where the cost of new technology becomes so low that the market takes over. Every step we take brings us closer to those tipping points.
“We have well and truly won the argument that climate action is good for the economy and jobs.” My organisation, Boundless Earth, was proud to take a step in partnership with the Smart Energy Council by hosting the National EV Summit in Canberra last August. We brought the industry together and secured a commitment from the federal government to pursue fuel efficiency standards, which should help Australia become a priority market for EV manufacturers. This will take us towards EVs taking a 10% share of the new car market by 2024, which has been a clear tipping point in other countries. Let’s take a moment to celebrate our achievements, take a deep breath, and start down our next 10-year journey towards Australia taking its place as a renewable energy superpower.
