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RENEWABLE ENERGY (ELECTRICITY) AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2007 (NO. 1) (SLI NO 218 OF 2007)
Select Legislative Instrument 2007 No. 218
Issued by Authority of the Assistant Minister for the Environment and Water Resources
Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 1)
Section 161 of the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 (the Act) provides, in part, that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
The Act provides the legislative framework for the implementation of the Government’s mandatory renewable energy target, announced by the Prime Minister on 20 November 1997. The mandatory renewable energy target (the target) is designed to increase the amount of electricity in Australia that is being generated from renewable energy sources. By 2010, an additional 9,500 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity will be required to be supplied from renewable energy sources.
Under the Act, wholesale purchasers of electricity (the ‘liable parties’) are required to meet a share of the target in proportion to their share of the national wholesale electricity market. The Act provides for the creation of renewable energy certificates by generators of renewable energy. One renewable energy certificate represents the equivalent of one megawatt hour of electricity generated from renewable energy sources. The renewable energy certificates, once registered, are traded and sold to the liable parties who, in turn, must surrender the renewable energy certificates to the Renewable Energy Regulator, or pay a penalty.
The Renewable Energy (Electricity) Regulations 2001 (the Principal Regulations) provide the administrative framework to implement the Act in relation to power station accreditation, eligibility requirements for fuel sources, and calculation methods for determining the number of renewable energy certificates that can be claimed.
The Amendment Regulations list additional solar water heater models, and their corresponding eligibility for renewable energy certificates, for the purposes of the Act. The list of eligible solar water heaters was last updated in December 2006.
Details of the Regulations are set out in Attachment A.
The Amendment Regulations allow for the addition of new solar water heaters and removal of obsolete systems from Schedule 7. Schedule 7 to the Principal Regulations is amended approximately every six months and the amendments are machinery in nature and do not substantially alter the existing operation of the Principal Regulations. Consequently a public consultation period was not conducted for the Amendment Regulations.
It is intended that eligibility for renewable energy certificates for the new solar water heater models be backdated to the date on which certification to Australian Standard 2712:2002 was obtained. This would prevent manufacturers being disadvantaged by the time required to update the list of eligible solar water heater models in the Principal Regulations. The benefits that the manufacturers gain from the new models being listed in the Principal Regulations would be able to be accessed for past sales, back to the date of certification against Australian Standard 2712:2002. Although the eligibility for renewable energy certificates would be backdated, the Australian Government Solicitor has advised that the Regulations would not have a retrospective effect and that subsection 12(2) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 would not have any application in respect of the Regulations (this advice is detailed in Attachment B).
The Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
The Regulations commenced on the day after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
Attachment A
Regulation 1 - Name of Regulations
This provides that the name of the Regulations is the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 1).
Regulation 2 - Commencement
The Regulations commence on the day after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
Regulation 3 - Amendment of the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Regulations 2001
This Regulation provides for Schedule 1 to amend the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Regulations 2001 (the Principal Regulations).
Item 1 – Schedule 7, Part 2A and 2B
This item amends Part 2A and 2B of Schedule 7 which relates to solar water heaters, by:
· inserting additional solar water heater models that have become eligible for renewable energy certificates under the regulations since Parts 2A and 2B of Schedule 7 were last revised on 13 December 2006;
· revising renewable energy certificate calculations for existing eligible solar water heater models that have changed since last revised on 13 December 2006; and
· deleting those solar water heater models for which eligibility has lapsed.