The uncertainty surrounding the Australian renewable energy sector is already reaping havoc. The consequences will be in the millions (or billions) if the RET is slashed but even though an official answer has not yet been given, the damage bill has already started racking up.

The uncertainty with the RET has claimed another victim with Silex Solar announcing on Monday that it will not go ahead with its 100MW Carwarp power station expansion in Mildura. The 200 dish expansion would have been able to provide clean electricity for around 30 000 to 40 000 homes once completed.

State and Federal funding amounting to $110 million will be forfeited as a result. Silex Systems is citing low wholesale electricity prices and uncertainty over the RET as the main reasons for walking away from the project.

The uncertainty alone is damaging the industry – if the RET is scrapped or even reduced, the consequences for the renewable energy sector could be fatal. Even public renewable energy companies are already showing decreasing share values in the market.

“We’re keeping out of the blame game; we just had to make an economic decision – a business decision – on whether the project could be funded,” says Silex Chief Executive, Michael Goldsworthy.

”There’s not as much pressure on the market to have renewable energy in their portfolio now simply because the [target] is at least going to be wound back and possibly abolished.”

Acting chief executive of the Clean Energy Council Kane Thornton said, “The industry is basically on hold because of the uncertainty of the review … It’s also affecting mature businesses like Pacific Hydro and Hydro Tasmania and there’s no question it makes it harder for the newer companies as well.”

”You’d have to be pretty reckless to make a decision that ultimately doesn’t save anyone any money on their power bills, is at distinct odds with what 99 per cent of people have asked for and will seriously damage investments and put people out of jobs,” he said.

As suspected, the reduction or axing of the RET will result in investments in renewable energy moving overseas – an opportunity missed for Australia and its already starting with Mr Goldsworthy from Silex adding, “We believe that concentrated photovoltaic technology has a strong future in delivering clean, low cost energy to supplement base load power in many suitable regions around the world and we continue to assess deployment of our unique ‘Dense Array’ dish technology in prospective offshore markets.”