Solar energy and rethinking geothermal: Arena's hits and misses

ARENA boss,
Ivor Frischknecht.
 

As any punter will know, backing winners isn’t easy. There’s a little bit of science, a little bit of art and a whole lot of luck.

Australia’s independent renewable energy agency came into being in 2012 though an act of parliament, with a $2.5bn, 10-year mission to improve the affordability of renewable energy and increase its supply in Australia. It hasn’t been smooth sailing; this year Arena was facing a $1.3bn budget cut but this was commuted to a smaller but still significant $500m.

Six years on it has spent nearly $100m wholly or partly funding more than 60 projects across the renewable energy portfolio, from solar to geothermal to wind to hybrid.

Read Bianca Nogrady’s story on The Guardian - “Solar energy and rethinking geothermal: Arena's hits and misses.”