ATSE believes that storage (including pumped hydro) and renewable biofuels are very important priority areas that the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) should consider incorporating into future research and development priorities.
The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) welcomes the opportunity to provide input to ARENA’s future research and development priorities. ATSE provides response to the call for input below.
ATSE believes that the proposed priority areas do address a key energy challenge for Australia.
There are a number of other specific areas that industry-researcher partnerships could address including: electricity networks facilitating the charging of electric vehicles; storage at building scale, precinct scale and network scale; renewable liquid biofuels; total system approaches that address how demand or supply can be reduced at times when renewable energy is low; end use efficiency (buildings, appliances and systems).
ATSE believes that storage (including pumped hydro) and renewable biofuels are very important priority areas that ARENA should consider incorporating into future research and development priorities. Storage is a key priority area for Australia if intermittent energy-producing technologies are to be effectively used.
ATSE believes that overall industry is able to invest in research and development however drivers of the stated priorities do not always align with the objectives of individual businesses, and in addition, some businesses are less willing to invest in research and development due to increasing costs associated with high energy, labour, equipment and development costs in Australia.
Unlike the UK, the Australian regulatory environment for transmission and distribution companies does not strongly encourage and support investment in research, development and demonstration (RD&D). The lowering of incentives under RET revisions will most likely further disincline investment. Further, the current economic squeeze on the Australian power industry (especially transmission and distribution companies) is actively deterring funding of R&D. In comparison, the UK, Europe and China are each investing in RD&D projects in the priority areas and some countries have a mandated share of the electricity tariffs directed to research.
Long-term Commonwealth support, stable policies and Government subsidies and incentives could help encourage investment in research and development.