Turnbull Government energy platform may line up wind farms for Australia’s main energy resources

As the new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sits as Australia’s new leader, the wind industry hopes the government would change its attitude towards providing renewable energy, after losing about 88 percent of investment in 2014. The newly appointed Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia Josh Frydenberg claims that renewable energy will play a key role for the energy platform of the new administration.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has once described wind farms as “visually awful” and that he wished that the Howard government had never introduced the Renewable Energy Target, or RET. But Turnbull tends to retain the government's current climate change policies.

"The climate policy is one that I think has been very well designed that was a very, very good piece of work," Turnbull said. However, renewable energy will be a key part of the government’s energy platform, Frydenberg told 774 ABC Melbourne on Monday.

"What I'm saying is that we as a Coalition Government have entered into a bipartisan agreement with the Labor Party, on a 23.5 percent renewable energy target by 2020, this will see a doubling of large scale renewable energy," Frydenberg said. He noted that the commitment to renewable energy under Abbott government will be the same under the leadership of Turnbull government, while Environment Minister Greg Hunt “will be driving that agenda in many respects.”

Despite their support to renewable energy, the new administration would likely retain the coal industry, which Frydenberg described to continue being used at home as well as overseas as it provides thousands of jobs and “is an important source of electricity for much of the developing world.”

Policy Manager for the Clean Energy Council Darren Gladman said in a statement that the issues are not "mutually exclusive," and Frydenberg's comments are "extremely encouraging" for the energy industry. However, he claims that the renewable energy industry has struggled challenging and frustrating years under the Abbott government.

To date, there are still no clear details if the new prime minister will change the current climate policies, but Gladman said that the renewable energy industry is looking forward to working with the Turnbull government, particularly to build relationship with Hunt, who, he says, clearly recognises the potential of technologies like solar, wind, bio-energy and energy efficiency to create a strong platform for Australia's future prosperity.

"Australia has some of the best renewable energy resources in the world, and we believe the new government can see the job and investment benefits of these newer forms of energy for rural and regional areas of the country," Gladman added.

The Turnbull government has been largely welcomed by the renewable energy industry bodies, hoping it will work for the better future of Australia’s climate policy. To date, it is still unclear if the new administration will appoint a wind farm commissioner to handle the complaints about the renewable energy turbines.

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