Australia going Green

25th August 2009

Dennis Harding

Will Australia gain a competitive advantage by passing its recent clean energy law which is requiring the country to produce 20% of its power from renewable sources by 2020?  Commentators have said that this move that could draw billions of dollars of green investment. The Australian senate passed the bill after parliament rejected further-reaching but controversial legislation aimed at slashing carbon emissions. Electricity companies will now be forced to buy a portion of their power from renewable sources under the laws.

The potential size if the market seems to be substantiated by an Energy Risk report that the biofuels market will reach Australian $247 billion in sales by 2020. This was according to a study from clean technology consultancy firm Pike Research. The report predicts the combined biodiesel and ethanol markets will more than triple in sales by 2020, up from just Australian $76 billion in 2010 driven by three key waves of next generation biodiesel.

The types of fuels which seem to be attracting most of the headlines are jatropha and algae-based biodiesel. These are expected to become on stream in approximately 3 to seven years. Maybe energy investors should give Oz another much closer look.

See:
 
http://www.biodieselinvesting.com/biodiesel-archives/2009/08/24/australia-passes-clean-energy-law/
http://www.biodieselinvesting.com/biodiesel-archives/2009/08/24/biofuels-market-to-reach-247m-in-2020