Australian Budget 2022-23
To the surprise of no-one, there’s not a lot for renewable energy or EV owners this year.
The Australian budget for 2022-23 has just been released and from a renewable energy and electric vehicle standpoint there’s not a lot there.
The big news is that the federal government has opted for a halving of the fuel tax excise for petrol, diesel and all other petroleum-based fuels for the next six months from A$0.44 down to A$0.22 per litre. At the moment this is approximately 10% of the current price at the pump.
Interestingly this excludes aviation fuel so if you’re planning a long trip, perhaps it will be cheaper to drive. Presumably the airlines, Qantas in particular, received sufficient government support during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
The only other alternative energy measures I could see are
A$1.5B to establish a domestic hydrogen industry
A$1.4B for Snowy 2.0 to build an underground pumped hydroelectric (2,000MW dispatcchable power and 350,000MWh of storage)
That’s it. People interested in alternative energy are going to have to look towards state and local governments for policy and strategy in this area.