Wind power market on the ropes in Australia

With the government’s repeal of the carbon tax and its threats to reduce carbon emissions reduction targets and subsidies for renewable energy, wind power developers and investors in Australia may be headed for greener pastures elsewhere, according to a report by Reuters on February 8. Some 44 wind farm projects in Australia, many with financing from overseas sources, have been placed on hold since the government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in early 2014 that it was planning to cut state support for the wind power industry. That exodus of investment could amount to A$14 billion (about $13.3 billion U.S.), Reuters reported. “It’s a difficult time at the moment, and the policy uncertainty is the main cause of it,” Shaq Mohajerani, Australian spokesman for wind power developer Union Fenosa, told Reuters. Union Fenosa is owned by the Spanish firm Gas Natural. Spain’s Acciona has reportedly frozen about A$750 million of investment in wind projects in Australia because of the policy uncertainty. “If the parent company can’t see that there’s a stable environment, it becomes really difficult to get traction,” Andrew Thompson, Acciona’s managing director in Australia, told Reuters. “For us at the moment, it’s a really difficult sell.”