THE Rudd government's showpiece renewable energy legislation has failed to spark a single major project in the six months since it was passed, prompting fresh claims Labor has failed to deliver on its environmental commitments.
The failure of the 20 per cent renewable energy target is blamed on a poor design that promotes domestic rooftop solar panels, heat pumps and solar hot water systems at the expense of wind farms.
Renewable energy backers warned the design flaws were on the brink of costing jobs. Wind turbine maker Keppel Prince Engineering said it had to decide this week whether to sack up to 150 workers at its plant at Portland in Victoria's south-west.
''We're finishing off our last project and we don't have another wind farm to continue on with,'' managing director Steve Garner said.
Clean Energy Council chief executive Matthew Warren said industry estimates suggested it could be up to seven years before the legislation created an incentive to invest in large-scale plants. He called for a rethink of all renewable energy policy.
''What we have is the retail market stymieing the commercial market,'' he said. ''It needs to be addressed quickly or we have no large-scale clean generation capacity in three years.''
Australian Greens climate change spokeswoman Christine Milne will today introduce a private members' bill that would make the 20 per cent target applicable to large-scale plants only. Renewable energy from domestic technologies would be additional to the target.
The market for renewable energy certificates - credits that are counted towards the target of 20 per cent clean energy production by 2020 - has been flooded by strong sales of commercial heat pumps and solar hot water systems.
The government has also artificially boosted rooftop solar power by offering households certificates worth five times more than the energy generated.
Senator Milne said that hundreds of jobs would be lost and thousands more not created if the legislation was not fixed.
Projects that have stalled since the scheme was passed include AGL Energy's 174-turbine wind farm planned for Macarthur in western Victoria. Victorian Energy Minister Peter Batchelor and federal Coalition spokesman Nick Minchin have both called for the renewable energy scheme to be overhauled.
Assistant Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said the financial crisis was likely to have reduced the ability to raise finance for clean projects in the short term, and uncertainty about the blocked emissions trading scheme was hurting the renewable energy certificate price, which has fallen from a high of $53 to $35.
He said the government was examining issues in the renewable energy market as part of a COAG review.
Senator Minchin said he would not back the Greens' proposal to effectively lift the target, but backed the creation of bands dedicated to large-scale projects. He called on the government to confirm the date for the next COAG meeting and to guarantee the issue would be addressed.
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