Enhancing Australia's Economic Prosperity
Resources Energy Tourism Department

Energy

The Australian Government is committed to the provision of adequate, reliable and affordable energy to meet future energy consumption needs and to underpin strong economic growth, consistent with the principles of environmental responsibility and sustainable development.
Australian Centre for Renewable Energy

The Australian Centre for Renewable Energy (ACRE) is a component of the Government's expanded $5 billion Clean Energy Initiative (CEI). ACRE's objective is to promote the development, commercialisation and deployment of renewable energy and enabling technologies and to improve their competitiveness in Australia. ACRE will become the Government's central point of contact for Australian Government support for renewable energy and enabling technologies.

ACRE has three components:

  • An independent, statutory advisory board – the ACRE Board
  • A statutory Chief Executive Officer who is an ex-officio member of the ACRE Board
  • Staff of the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism

The three components function together to deliver programs, advice and strategic direction for the Government on renewable energy technology development.

ACRE’s key objectives are:

  • developing and implementing a funding strategy capable of supporting projects along the innovation chain
  • encouraging additional investments, including investments from the private sector and state and territory governments
  • managing the cost effective delivery of government-funded renewable energy and enabling technology programs
  • providing support and advice to governments, industry and the community on renewable energy and enabling technologies, strategies and related issues when requested
  • fostering collaboration between governments, industry and the research community on renewable energy projects
  • supporting growth in skills and capacity in renewable technologies for the domestic and international markets.

A key priority for 2010-2011 is the implementation of the ACRE Board's Strategic Directions for ACRE, which provides a framework to direct the activities undertaken by ACRE to deliver on these objectives.

ACRE manages over $690 million of funding committed to support renewable energy and enabling technology development. The technology to develop Australia's substantial potential renewable energy resources is supported through the following programs and measures:

Advice on ACRE's activities is provided to the Government by the ACRE Board. The Australian Centre for Renewable Energy Act 2010 [PDF, 104kb] sets out the scope and governance arrangement for the ACRE Board. The Act allows for a Chair, up to 6 appointed Board members, and one ex officio member from the Australian Public Service. The ex officio member will be the Chief Executive Officer of ACRE. Please see the Explanatory Memorandum [PDF, 75KB] and the Second Reading speech [PDF, 82KB] for further information on the Government objectives and scope of activity for ACRE.

Membership of the ACRE Board was announced by the Government on 11 May 2010.
The ACRE Board Annual Report 2009-10 [PDF, 945KB] provides an overview of ACRE’s activities since October 2009 and identifies future challenges.

For further information and enquiries please send an email to acre@ret.gov.au.

Page Last Updated: 11/05/2011 10:45 AM