The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association and the Australian Pipeline Industry Association said yesterday the Clean Energy Target’s emphasis on renewable energy could hold back the growth of gas-fired power.

In separate statements, APPEA and APIA said that gas had signifcantly lower emissions and used less water than coal-fired power , while also being capable of producing base-load power using current technologies, unlike the more expensive option of renewable energy.

“In delivering base-load, low cost energy, all of the technologies covered by the Clean Energy Target are for the long term,” APPEA chief executive Belinda Robinson said.

“In contrast Australia’s natural gas offers an immediate response as we move toward a much less greenhouse intensive future. This preoccupation with renewable energy, while important, is further distracting the debate from the main game and that is, least cost-emissions reduction and practical

action, now.”

APIA also warned that the national debate on greenhouse issues must focus more on gas and said the details of an emission trading scheme must be announced sooner rather than later.

“The longer it takes to establish a definitive scheme, the longer will be the delays in investment in the necessary infrastructure,” chief executive Cheryl Cartwright said.

“It is Australian consumers who will eventually suffer from such delays because the private sector needs certainty in order to undertake the required large investments in long-term infrastructure that will provide future cleaner energy for consumers.”

The national Clean Energy Target (CET) will require 30,000GW/hr a year to come from low emissions sources by 2020, estimated to be about 15% of total energy generation at current levels. This is up from the 2% by 2010 Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) set in 2001 which has easily been reached and no longer functions as a market driver.

However by 2019/20, the target of 30,000GW/hr a year is expected to be 9% of power generation.

Introduction of the CET is intended to replace the national MRET scheme and several existing and proposed state and territory schemes. The Federal Government will consult with state and territory governments and industry in designing and implementing the CET. The intention is for legislation to be introduced next year and for the target to come into effect no later than January 1, 2010.

Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday the national CET will reduce the regulatory burden for business.

"It will reduce the red tape from the current multitude of schemes, and ensure low emission technologies are developed in the lowest cost locations, without being restricted by state and territory boundaries," Howard said.

The CET will build on the market-based MRET framework that stimulated $3.5 billion of investment in renewable energy technologies. It also intends to complement the government's commitment to establish an emissions trading scheme, according to Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane.

"The CET will provide a further incentive for the deployment of renewable and low emissions technologies until the emissions trading scheme has had the time to mature," he said.

Environment Business Australia chief Fiona Wain welcomed the inclusion of all clean energy sources, from conventional renewables such as solar and wind to the more speculative geothermal energy and fossil fuel fired electricity generation where carbon capture and storage is used.

But she said there was no urgency in the measure, despite the pressing need to respond to climate change.

The target "falls short of the environment industry's call for 20% cuts in emissions and a target of 20% renewable energy into the energy mix by that date", Wain said.

Opposition leader Kevin Rudd is this week expected to unveil a policy pushing for a renewable energy target of 20 percent.