What is the RET?

The Renewable Energy Target (RET) is a scheme that exists to bring about more investment in clean energy in Australia.

The RET is split into two schemes - the Large-scale Renewable Energy Target (LRET) which supports large scale projects like wind farms, and the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES), which supports household and community scale renewable energy like rooftop solar, solar hot water and hot water heat pump systems.

The Renewable Energy Target was set up by the Howard Government in 2001 to reduce pollution from Australia’s emission intensive power sector and develop Australia’s clean energy sector. The Labor government expanded the Target, with support from the Coalition, to ensure at least 20 per cent of Australia's electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020.

Why is the RET important?

Renewable energy needs support because it’s competing in a market that has been distorted by decades of subsidies to fossil fuels. The biggest subsidy was allowing fossil fuel generators to pollute for free, which gave them an unfair advantage over cleaner forms of energy, because the costs of pollution were pushed off the company balance sheet. The Renewable Energy Target, like a price on carbon pollution, is a way of tilting the playing field back toward fairness by making clean energy more competitive.

The RET sends a strong signal to industry that Australia is a safe place to invest. It shows that Australia is open for business in one of the world’s fastest growing sectors. Every time Australia builds a new wind farm, wave energy project or a bioenergy power plant, we gain valuable experience that will make it cheaper to build more renewable energy in the future.

The Renewable Energy Target has already generated $18.5 billion of investment, and if left alone to do its job under stable policy settings is projected to generate a further $18.7 billion to 2030.

What has it accomplished?

The Renewable Energy Target has generated some 25,000 jobs and $18.5 billion of investment. It has enabled Australia to develop skills and expertise in one of the world’s key growth industries. It has made our electricity system more diverse and resilient by reducing our reliance on coal and gas. More than two million small-scale energy systems have been installed across Australia, including more than one million households who have seized the opportunity to go solar - and many more will follow.

How does the RET impact power bills?

There are no free lunches, but the Renewable Energy Target is great value for money. Investing in new clean energy industries currently cost households around a $1/week. For $1 a week the Renewable Energy Target delivers over $18 billion dollars of new investment in Australia, underpins 30,000 jobs and reduces pollution by about 100 million tonnes by 2020.

Meanwhile, households are spending another $35 each week on the rest of their electricity bill, with network costs alone making up half of that in most states. Anyone serious about reducing electricity bills needs to look beyond the RET to deal with the other factors driving up power prices.