**Check against delivery
Speech to a Clean Energy Council event in Brisbane, check against delivery
Good morning ladies and gentlemen, and can I add my own warm welcome to you at this important Forum.
I know you will have much to discuss today.
Australia's energy landscape is changing - and there are a range of views as to how this change could or should proceed over the coming decades.
You are here because you want to seize the opportunities presented by Australia's transition to a low-carbon economy and to show Australia that solar energy should be part of the solution to climate change.
I am here to wish you every success, and - more importantly - map out how the Government is giving solar power every opportunity to compete in the energy market.
In Australia - we are very lucky to have an such an abundance of energy options - both conventional , and renewable.
Coal, gas, wind, solar, wave, and geothermal.
It is the government's intention to give all technologies the opportunity to be part of the future energy landscape.
Solar energy - like all the others - will only succeed if it is affordable, adequate and reliable in the energy market of the future.
Australia's energy sources of the future will be those which best contribute to Australia's energy security and our economic security.
Australia is a very prospective environment for solar technology development and deployment.
Today I want to map out the support the Government is giving the solar industry to enable solar every opportunity to compete in the energy market.
It is the Government's view that we must move beyond the debate about PV on individual household roofs and look at solar being deployed, at a large scale, and integrated into the electricity grid.
The Australian Government is using many mechanisms to give solar energy an opportunity to compete as a reliable source of energy.
However I would add that we don't pick winners - the market will decide - and solar must also compete with other renewable energy technologies on its merits.
I do hope the solar industry will prosper, and this morning I will map out how we are working with you to achieve that.
Clean Energy programs
The Australian Government's Clean Energy Initiative is at the top of the list, a $4.5 billion investment in low-carbon technology.
The Clean Energy Initiative includes the Solar Flagships Program, a $1.5 billion commitment to increase our deployment of solar energy.
This investment will fund a number of large-scale solar power stations in Australia.
Providing dependable power into the grid will be important deliverables of these projects, because intermittent supplies cannot guarantee energy security.
The primary aim of the Solar Flagships program will be to lay the foundations for utility-scale solar power to play a significant role in Australia's electricity supply and to operate within a competitive electricity market.
The Government has contracted Boston Consulting Group to undertake a market study and develop a business model for the Government's consideration. Many of you will have contributed to the consultation process.
The Government is currently considering the final design of the Solar Flagships Program.
It is my expectation that guidelines for Solar Flagship applicants will be issued by the end of the year.
I also expect that lessons from the Solar Flagship Program will be shared with the Australian Solar Institute.
The Australian Solar Institute is a $100 million Australian Government initiative which I had the pleasure of opening in January.
The Institute will foster greater co-operation between solar researchers and industry - both here and overseas, and put Australia at the cutting edge of solar innovation.
As you are aware, the Government this year made changes to the Renewable Energy Demonstration Program.
While solar applicants are no longer eligible for this funding, applications are still being assessed and being referred to a new body, the Australian Centre for Renewable Energy for consideration.
The Government has committed $465 million, including $100 million in new funds, to the development of this important new initiative.
Energy frameworks
The Government's funding of solar energy - through the Solar Flagships Program, the ASI, and the Centre for Renewable Energy - is part of a broader strategy; not a strategy in itself.
The Government aims to reduce CO2 emissions from Australia's energy supply - and from the economy more broadly.
And as I have already said - the Government will let market forces determine the technologies able to deliver the economic and environmental outcomes we're chasing.
The proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is the primary mechanism to support this, complemented by the expanded Renewable Energy Target.
Putting a price on carbon will promote growth in demand for low-carbon energy - including solar.
The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme will also encourage businesses to look harder at their carbon footprint - and, again, solar energy will benefit from that.
The Government's expanded Renewable Energy Target will drive solar innovation further, creating a guaranteed market for an additional 45,000 gigawatt hours of renewable energy by 2020.
In fact, the target of 20 per cent by 2020 equates to a cross-subsidy for clean energy worth more than $20 billion.
The expanded Renewable Energy Target includes the Solar Credits initiative, providing multiplied credits for small generation units such as household solar PV installations.
Taken together, these policy settings represent a valuable boost for the solar energy industry.
I know there are some who talk about feed in tariffs as providing the solution to ensure greater deployment of solar.
Feed in Tariffs are not the solution some make them out to be.
The Australian Government has decided to use the expanded Renewable Energy Target (RET) as our key policy for encouraging new investment in renewable energy generation.
In contrast to a technologically-prescriptive and ideologically-based feed-in tariff, the RET is a market based mechanism that does not favour specific technologies.
It allows the market to choose those technologies which reliably produce renewable energy at the lowest cost.
The Government should not be attempting to pick winners.
The Government's policy settings will achieve growth in renewable deployment and foster innovation, creativity and healthy competition.
It is important to note that feed-in tariffs can have a number of unintended consequences.
A solar PV feed in tariff does not guarantee Australian jobs. In fact it could simply result in greater imports of PV panels.
Artificially pricing one energy source 300% or 400% higher than others (including other renewables) could divert investment from technologies that might in fact produce better environmental outcomes at lower cost.
Legislating a feed-in tariff effectively picks that jurisdiction's renewable energy of choice - and it can be very expensive.
I regularly hear people refer to the success of Germany's feed-in-tariff in driving growth in solar energy there.
Germany's solar subsidy saw German consumers in 2007 pay more than €1 billion in additional power bills to cover the cost of this policy - and yet - only around half of 1% of Germany's gross electricity consumption come from solar PV that year.
Picking winners can be expensive - and does not always deliver the intended results.
This Government wants solar energy to succeed - we need the innovation to drive high-value exports, the jobs to sustain regional communities, and the clean energy for Australia's transition to a low-carbon economy.
But we will not solely back solar at the expense of other renewable technologies.
Conclusion
When it comes to energy security, Australia is lucky - we have abundant sources of renewable and non-renewable energy.
Elsewhere, there are countries with high aspirations for renewable energy, but not a resource endowment with which to work.
Australia has an historic opportunity - we have both the will and the means to drive the take-up of clean energy.
And the Government is committed to making the solar industry grow - both for the industry's own sake, and for the energy security and prosperity of all Australians.
Thank you