Consultation on the Draft General Funding Strategy
As part of the development of the General Funding Strategy, the ARENA Board and CEO have undertaken a range of activities to date:
26 July 2012
The ARENA Chair, Mr Greg Bourne, announced the consultation process for the General Funding Strategy. The draft General Funding Strategy was released on 26 July 2012 to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to help shape how ARENA will design and implement its programs over the next three years.
17 August 2012
The ARENA CEO, Mr Ivor Frischknecht, met with 25 Western Australian stakeholders in Perth. The CEO discussed regional issues specific to the South-West and North-West Interconnected Systems.
21 August 2012
The ARENA Board and CEO held a National Forum in Melbourne. The ARENA Chair, Mr Greg Bourne, was pleased with the very high level of interest, the quality of the presentations and the willingness of participants to engage in constructive dialogue about ARENA's future work.
23 August 2012
The ARENA Chair, Mr Greg Bourne, held a teleconference with 15 stakeholders from the Northern Territory. The teleconference focussed on delivering power in small and remote grids
24 August 2012
The ARENA CEO met with 35 Queensland stakeholders in Brisbane. The CEO focussed on issues such a biofuels, delivery of remote power and north Queensland power needs.
27 August 2012
In total, 75 submissions on the draft General Funding Strategy were received from a wide variety of stakeholders including industry, universities, governments and individuals by this closing date. The submissions include diverse views on a broad number of key issues such as ARENA's role and focus, and funding types and priorities. The ideas and material arising from these submissions are being synthesised and considered for their potential inclusion into the final General Funding Strategy. Written submissions can be viewed on the ARENA submissions page.
Brief Summary of Ideas from Stakeholder Engagement
The following key stakeholder messages were provided during the consultation phase for the draft General Funding Strategy:
- a clear vision and direction from ARENA about the future renewable energy mix in Australia and using that to inform renewable energy programs;
- providing strategic leadership to address matters of policy and co-ordination across jurisdictions (i.e. non-price barriers to renewable energy);
- providing and enabling timely decision making;
- providing new, flexible and innovative approaches to the provision of financial assistance (with a focus on output-based subsidies); and
- supporting genuine partnerships with stakeholders.
Timeframe for the Publication of the Final General Funding Strategy
ARENA will continue working on the draft General Funding Strategy with a view to releasing the Final Strategy in October 2012.