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158^ CEFC Annual Report 2017, above n 154, 14; CEFC notes that this abatement is not independent of the RET or other complementary government policies.

159^ Australian Renewable Energy Agency Act 2011 (Cth) (‘ARENA Act’) ss 3, 8.

160^ See International Renewable Energy Agency (‘IRENA’), The Power of Change: Solar and Wind Cost Reduction Potential to 2025 (June 2016) 14-21, for an analysis of the historical and projected costs reduction in solar PV from 2010-2025. Although it can be argued that the large scale solar initiative may have created competition in the balance of plant components of the projects, given that the cost of panel modules and inverters represent a substantial part of a project’s capital expenditure, the increased competitiveness of large scale solar projects is more likely a reflection of cost savings associated with equipment costs and their increased energy efficiencies. These costs savings are a function of the global cumulative capacity deployment; it is estimated that with every doubling of capacity, costs are reduced by 18 to 22% for solar PV modules (compared with 12% for onshore wind).

161^ See Gunningham and Bowman, ‘Energy Regulation’, above n 81, 134 for further details on the history of both organisations and the curtailment of mandates since their inception.

162^ For the purposes of this thesis, only the ACT, Victoria and Queensland schemes will be examined. Recent policies in South Australia are more geared to ensuring energy security and less on deployment of additional renewable generation and will not be considered. South Australia has the highest level of renewable generation in Australia; total renewable generation was 42 per cent of the region’s total local generation supply in 2015-2016; see Australian Energy Market Operator, South Australian Renewable Energy Report (December 2016) 3. The focus on energy security and reliability is a consequence of the South Australian ‘black-outs’ experienced in late 2016. See generally, Government of South Australia, Our Energy Plan (accessed 26 October 2017) ; Government of South Australia, Energy Security Target – Stakeholder Consultation (26 October 2017) <dpc.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/.../Energy-Security-Target-Stakeholder-Consultation.pdf>.

163^ See further Climate Change Authority and the Australian Energy Market Commission, Towards the Next Generation: Delivering Affordable, Secure and Lower Emissions Power (June 2017) 19 (‘Joint Report’).

164^ ACT Government, Environment and Planning, 2015 Review of AP2 – A New Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan for the Australian Capital Territory (November 2015).

165^ The mechanism was legislated under the Electricity Feed-in (Large-scale Renewable Energy Generation) Act 2011 (ACT).

166^ ACT Government – Environment Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate – Environment, How do the ACT’s Renewable Energy Reverse Auctions Work? (27 October 2017) .

167^ See generally, Jacobs, ‘Review of Next Generation Renewables Auction and the Electricity Feed-in (Large scale Renewable Energy Generation) Act 2011, Final Summary Report’ (Final Summary Report, 15 May 2017) 12-13.

168^ See generally, Global Infrastructure Hub, Allocating Risks in Public-Private Partnership Contracts (2016) 30, 138.

169^ Jacobs, above n 167, 37.

170^ Ibid 5.

171^ ‘Under2MOU’ is a sub-national global climate leadership initiative that has 188 jurisdictions from 39 countries as signatories; see generally, Under2MOU, Coalition (accessed 26 October 2017) >. These initiatives reflect the increasing role of actors at the sub-national level. On a smaller scale, the ‘Take2 Pledge’ is an initiative led by Sustainability Victoria, which encourages corporates and communities to make the same 2°C commitment; see Sustainability Victoria, Take2 (accessed 26 October 2017) < http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/services-and-advice/community/take2>.

172^ The 40% target translates to approximately 5400MW of new renewable generation by 2025. By comparison, that is more than 3 times the capacity of the Hazelwood coal-fired power station that was recently shut.

173^ Victorian Government, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victorian Renewable Energy Auction Scheme (accessed 27 December 2017) < https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/renewable-energy/victorian-renewable-energy-auction-scheme>.

174^ See Renewable Energy (Jobs and Investment) Act 2017 (Vic) s 1(b).

175^ Victorian Government, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning Victorian Energy Action Plan (2017) 4-5 (‘Victorian Energy Action Plan’).

176^ Climate Change Act 2017 (Vic) s 6.

177^ Victorian Government, ‘Victorian Energy Action Plan’, above n 175, 32.

178^ Queensland Government, Department of Energy and Water Supply, Powering Queensland Plan (2017) 6 (‘Powering Queensland Plan’).

179^ Queensland Government, Solar 150 – Queensland’s large-scale solar investment program (8 September 2016)