All in on renewable energy

The South Australian premier, Jay Weatherill, has gone all in on the state’s transition to renewable energy, promising to lift the state-based renewable energy target from 50% to 75% by 2025 and to introduce the country’s first renewable energy storage target.

A re-elected Labor government would set a target that 25% of the state’s peak demand be met by stored renewable energy, equating to about 750MW of storage. The target would be met with subsidy arrangements, the premier said.

The two new targets will be seen as a snub to the federal government, which has called for state-based renewable energy targets to be scrapped – a policy adopted by all Coalition-governed states and taken up as an election commitment by South Australia’s Liberal opposition.

“It’s a rejection of the federal government’s approach – and the state Liberal party’s approach,” Weatherill told Guardian Australia. “We’re not interested in putting our leadership in renewable energy in the hands of people that don’t believe in a renewable energy future.”

Several renewable energy projects have already been slated for the state, including the world’s biggest lithium ion battery, one of the world’s biggest solar thermal plants and the world’s biggest “virtual power plant”, under which solar panels and batteries will be installed on more than 50,000 homes.

On Wednesday, Carnegie Clean Energy also announced it had been awarded $3m from the South Australian government to build a 2MW battery energy storage system at the General Motors Holden site in Adelaide. The design of the battery was modular, Carnegie said in a press release, noting it could be expanded to hundreds of megawatts.

“This solar and battery project by Carnegie is part of a wave of new investment in South Australia we have leveraged through the $150m Renewable Technology Fund announced as part of our energy plan,” Weatherill said.