New figures suggest investors are becoming less excited by renewable energy. 

A new report by the Clean Energy Council says that while renewable energy now accounts for 32.5 per cent of Australia's electricity, investments in new projects are dwindling. 

“2021 was another record year for clean energy in Australia, with almost 3 GW of new large-scale renewable energy projects completed. The rooftop solar sector also had its fifth-straight record-breaking year, installing almost 400,000 new systems to add 3.3 GW of new capacity,” says Clean Energy Council chief Kane Thornton.

“This equates to over 6.3 GW of new capacity installed during the year, giving Australia confidence that it can deliver the new clean energy supply necessary to support the accelerated closure of coal generation and achieve more ambitious climate change goals.”

However, these extraordinary achievements are clouded by a significant slowdown in the pipeline for new large-scale renewable energy projects, with the level of financial commitments for new large-scale renewable energy projects falling by more than 17 per cent from $4.5 billion in 2020 to $3.7 billion in 2021.

"This significant reduction is due to continued policy uncertainty combined with the challenges associated with connecting renewable energy projects to the grid,” Mr Thornton said.

“While investors are enthusiastic about investing in new large-scale renewable energy projects, these challenges have increased risks and slowed down the number of new projects coming forward. The slowdown is concerning in light of expectations that coal-fired power plants will continue to close earlier than previously anticipated."

The full 2022 Clean Energy Australia Report is accessible here.