Federal Energy and Climate Minister Chris Bowen says he is not ready to give up on the country’s ambitious renewable energy targets for 2030, but concedes that energy companies “need to get cracking” to ensure enough wind and solar projects are delivered on time.

The federal government is relying on its newly expanded Capacity Investment Scheme, now seeking 40 gigawatts of new wind, solar and storage, to deliver the bulk of the new capacity needed to reach 82% renewables by 2030 – double the current levels in just five years.

The battery storage component is clearly working well, with a new batch of 16 projects awarded underwriting agreements in the latest tender and developers clearly having little difficulty in proving their business case and landing finance.

Large-scale wind and solar projects, however, are still mostly stalled at the gates. No new wind projects have reached financial close yet in 2025, and few of the 6.4 GW of new wind and solar projects have advanced since being announced as winners of the first CIS generation tender late last year.

Bowen is poised to announce the results of the second CIS generation tender, likely to contract another 6 GW or more, in coming days. That auction will be conducted under a new fast-tracked single phase process that should shorten the timeframe.

In an interview on the  latest episode of Renew Economy’s weekly Energy Insiders podcast, Bowen says he is not giving up on the renewables target, and insists he is happy with the way the CIS is playing out.

“It’s massively oversubscribed, which shows me that the pipeline of projects is big and strong, and that’s why, one of the reasons why we extended it from 32 gigawatts to 40 gigawatts,” Bowen said.

“It was a sign of strength that the pipeline is so strong that you could, we could very easily support 40 gigawatts. And, you know, I released the tender 3 (dispatchable) results just a couple of weeks ago, 16 projects, 4.1 gigawatts, and 15 gigawatt hours of dispatchable capacity … very big chunks in just one auction.

“I’ll be releasing the results of the generation auction (tender 4) imminently, quite soon. And you know, we’re supporting a lot of very good projects now.

“It hasn’t yet hit the grid like these are big scale things. We’re just getting our first electrons, you know, very early electrons out of the first project supported in auction, one, you know, which seems like a long, long time ago.

“It’ll be a very, very important part of getting to 82% by 2030 which I’m not writing off. I am still confident we can achieve it alongside everything that’s happening in the small scale.

“To your question, do we need to do more? Well, of course, it’s no secret we’re engaging in planning reform and EPBC reform.”

Energy Insiders co-host David Leitch, principal at ITK, has been highly critical of the failure of the country’s big “gentailers” — AGL, Origin, EnergyAustralia and even the federal government owned Snowy Hydro — to build and contract much wind and solar, saying it amount to a “buyers’ strike” to protect their existing thermal assets.

Bowen pointed to the recent actions, such as AGL’s signing of a 15-year PPA with the Palmer wind project (a CIS tender winner), and Origin’s pursuit of the Yanco Delta wind project.

“Chief executives told me confidentially their plans, and I don’t disclose them, but I will say … plenty of energy companies are telling me about their plans to support onshore wind and solar in coming months, and that’s a good thing.

“Yes, yes. They need to get cracking. Absolutely. They need, you know, to get planning approval and feed, etc. But, I’m starting to see a lot more. Wind has been, you know, facing some challenges over the last few months, but we’re starting to see, I think, more coming through.”

Bowen, however, was critical of the Queensland LNP Government, which is about to release its own energy plan that is expected to focus on extending the life of state-owned coal fired generators, even as its biggest electricity consumer, Rio Tinto, announced this week the early closure of the Gladstone coal generator.

The near 50-year old Gladstone facility is the biggest coal plant in the state, at 1680 MW, but Rio Tinto has made it clear that the future of its aluminium smelters and refineries in Gladstone depend on a switch to wind, solar, storage and firming.

But changes to the state planning rules have put developments in doubt, some major projects have had their approvals pulled, and the government has promised to rip up the state’s renewable energy targets.

Bowen says Rio Tinto’s decision underlines the need for a lot more renewable energy investment in Queensland.

“I don’t make a habit of criticising state governments for no reason, but there’s been some setbacks in Queensland,” he said.

He said Treasurer and Energy Minister David Janetzki “has a very good approach”, but added that “across the Queensland Government, in total, there’s been some poor decisions” that endangers Queensland Government’s “ability to meet targets, and energy reliability”.

Bowen says he is still hopeful that Australia will get to host the COP31 climate conference in Adelaide next year, despite the ongoing sensitive negotiations with Turkiye.

And he defended the newly announced 2035 emissions target, set at between 62% and 70% below 2005 levels – which have been criticised by environmental groups as too little, and not based on the science.

“It involves a halving of emissions from today. That’s not easy,” Bowen said.

“If the country leans in, or continues to lean in, as they have, certainly we can go for the top of the range, absolutely … if business leans in and industry leans in, if households continue to lean in and put 1000 batteries in a day, then sure, let’s aim for right at the top of the target.

“But it’s also important that it had to be a target that I could put my hand on my heart and say, I believe we can achieve. That’s also important for the markets. You know, if the international markets and investors look at the target. And say, Oh, look, it’s too high to be credible. It’s going to backfire.

“It has to be a credible target that people look at. Because the whole idea of a target is to say to renewable energy investors, come and invest here. This is what we’re trying to achieve. Here’s some policy certainty. Here’s a target. Come and help us do it.

“If they look at that target and say, well, 85% or 80%, 75% I don’t see how Australia you can get there, then it backfires on the country. So it’s got to be credible. I believe it is. I’m very happy with the way it’s been received.”

You can hear more from the interview with Bowen, including on the battery rebate (now up to 72,000), EVs, the Safeguard Mechanism and changes to the EPBC, in the latest episode of the Energy Insiders podcast.

You can find it here: Energy Insiders Podcast: Chris Bowen on renewables, emissions, EVs, and nuclear

Republished from Renew Economy, 2 October 2025

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.