Financial commitments to new wind and solar projects have stalled as Australia falls behind its renewable energy targets, new data shows.
At the same time investment in battery storage projects, such as the Waratah Battery at Munmorah, is at record levels.
The shortfall in new clean energy generation capacity is among the reasons why the State Government-commissioned O'Reilly Review recommended a deal be struck with Origin Energy to keep Eraring Power Station open beyond its scheduled 2025 closure date.
The government is due to formally announce its intention regarding the plant's future in the coming days.
The latest Clean Energy Council Renewable Projects Quarterly Report shows new financial commitments in generation projects recorded the slowest first half of a year since 2017.
Only four generation projects, totalling 348 megawatts, reached financial commitment. This represented just $225 million of new investment, more than 80 per cent below the more than $1 billion recorded in previous quarters.
"While there is now strong political support for the clean energy transition, there remains a raft of barriers as a result of the historic lack of leadership, planning and foresight over the prior decade," Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton said.
"These challenges make final investment decisions for large scale renewables projects more difficult, and include under-investment in transmission, grid connection challenges, inconsistent planning policies, constraints in supply chains and workforce as Australia competes with global leaders that are all accelerating their demand for renewable energy."
The Muswellbrook Solar Farm is among the new projects proposed but not yet built in the Hunter Region.
The 135 megawatt project,located on 482 hectares adjacent to the former Muswellbrook Coal Mine, is presently on public exhibition.
If it proceeds on time it could be operating by 2025 and produce around 347 gigawatt hours of energy annually. The energy would be enough to power approximately 79,000 homes.
Mr Thornton said investors were looking to governments to provide certainty about the timing of coal-fired power station closures.
Any extension of the life of these generators, Mr Thornton said, would create more uncertainty and risk and undermine confidence to invest in clean energy projects.
"It means we miss out on the jobs and opportunities, and our transition to affordable and sustainable power is slowed. This has economy-wide impacts that will be felt for a long time," he said.
Battery storage is confirmed as the one strong point of Australia's green energy transition, as financial commitments to new wind and solar projects hit a new record low in the first half.
The latest data released by the Clean Energy Council highlights what is widely know in the industry - the surge in wind and solar projects has effectively come to a halt, and - while new investment in battery storage is at record levels - the country is falling well behind its renewable energy targets.
