Wind jobs falling into a federal black hole

A blunt but simple fix for the phantom RECs damage would be to bring the 20% Renewable Energy Target forward from 2020 (or to raise it), enough to force energy retailers to seek out more RECs right away.

Those who are serious about addressing Australia's enormous carbon emissions are starting to call for the most successful system, internationally: a Feed-in Tariff (FIT).

A FIT could lead a much faster rollout of renewable energy, as development would not be constrained by a rationed REC supply. It would not suffer the lowest-common denominator approach that is being used to justify abandoning Victoria's stronger greenhouse targets.

Whatever the mechanism, Federal government needs to act fast to protect the jobs at Keppel Prince because, as the industry will inevitably pick up again soon anyway, it will need these skilled and experienced workers. It is unfair to let such a valuable workforce go, when we know they are needed.

We need to see more of Victoria's planned 1,225 turbines (up to 2970.7MW of capacity) commence construction. That might sound like a lot – but in less than ten years, South Australia has gone from almost zero wind energy to 26% wind power.

Contrast this to 3% wind in the National Electricity Market, overall. This shows just how unambitious the 20%-by-2020 Renewable Energy Target is. All Australia could emulate SA's rapid wind rollout if we wanted to.

The climate clock is ticking. Another disruption, another delay might be the one that spells failure for Australia's weak, belated attempts to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in time.

The Federal government has to step up now.