Australia’s Treasurer Calls For More Investment In Its Energy Transition

Australia’s Treasurer has called for a boost of investment in the energy transition, saying that his next budget will have a focus on transition investments.

“We need a set of prescriptions right for this transformation and right for this country,” Jim Chalmers told media, as quoted by Bloomberg, earlier today.

In response to suggestions that Australia needs its own version of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, Chalmers said “We won’t realize Australia’s unique geographical, geological, geopolitical, intellectual and meteorological advantages by designing an Inflation Reduction Act Lite.”

The Treasurer said that the country needs to spend an additional $145 billion, or A$225 billion, by 2050 to make the transition happen.

Chalmers is Treasurer in a Labor government, which pledged it would make Australia get 82% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. As part of transition efforts, Prime Minister Albanese recently pledged some A$4 billion, or $2.57 billion, in investments for “green mining, energy and manufacturing,” according to Bloomberg.

Australia has abundant solar power resources and is making good use of them, mainly through rooftop solar installations. Solar and wind are seen as essential for Australia to achieve the Labor Party’s goal of 82% renewable electricity by 2030. However, this will not come free or cheap.

Earlier this month, the Clean Energy Council—an industry association—called for an additional investment of A$100 billion, or $64 billion, over the next ten years to bolster the addition of wind and solar capacity. The body said this investment would help guarantee Australia's international competitiveness as a wind and solar generator and builder of green value-added products thanks to its low-carbon electricity.

Australia relies on hydrocarbons for 68% of its electricity generation, of which coal accounted for 47% in 2022, gas accounted for 19%, and oil accounted for 2%. Renewables accounted for 32% of electricity generation last year.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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