The Australian Centre for Renewable Energy (ACRE) has today released a consultation paper on the $100 million Renewable Energy Venture Capital (REVC) Fund that puts forward a number of preliminary positions and seeks stakeholder feedback as to how the fund may best be administered.
As part of the consultation process stakeholders will have the opportunity to provide feedback through written submissions and at workshops to be held in Melbourne and Sydney on 16 November 2010.
The Australian Government is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to cleaner energy sources. One way the Government is facilitating this transition is by encouraging the development of technologies to harness energy from renewable sources.
Welcoming the release of the consultation paper today the Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson AM MP, noted that the REVC Fund was a 2010 election commitment and is an important component of the Government's work to encourage the development of renewable energy technologies.
"The REVC Fund will encourage the development of early-stage Australian renewable energy technologies, and help drive down their costs," Minister Ferguson said.
"It will make critical early-stage equity investments that leverage private funds to help commercialise emerging renewable technologies, for instance in geothermal, solar, wave and bio-energy technologies.
"This fund is important to address a key challenge facing many renewable energy companies - access to capital.
"Australia has many innovative companies with a strong research and development base in renewable energy technologies.
"The REVC Fund will assist by providing access to capital to help these promising technologies achieve commercial success in Australian and overseas markets."
The ACRE Board intends to begin a process in the first half of 2011 to identify appropriate fund managers to deliver this initiative.
The REVC Fund is part of a total $690 million in funding administered by ACRE as part of an integrated approach to support the development of renewable energy and enabling technologies in Australia. ACRE forms part of the Government's $5.1 billion Clean Energy Initiative.
The ACRE REVC consultation paper is available here. Written submissions close on Friday 19 November 2010.