Here's Everything You Need To Know About The New Renewable Energy Target

After a year of political haggling that crippled the clean energy industry, the new RET bill is finally here. And not everyone is happy.

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Environment minister Greg Hunt introduced a bill to Parliament on Wednesday that cuts Australia's Renewable Energy Target, otherwise known as the RET.

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The two parties have agreed to reduce the target of renewable energy generated by major power sources (wind farms, hydroelectric stations etc) to 33,000 gigawatt-hours by the year 2020.

That's down from the original target of 41,000 gigawatt-hours, but Greg Hunt says that still translates to 23.5% of our electricity coming from renewable sources by 2020.

A small-scale solar scheme that gives people rebates for installing solar panels on their houses will remain in place and industries that rely on emissions such as the aluminium industry, will be exempt from the RET.

The bill is likely to pass the lower house as it has bipartisan support. The Coalition and Labor struck a deal for the RET in May after more than a year of political deadlock.

Gigawatt now?

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A gigawatt hour (GWh) is a measurement of electrical power. Just like how your electricity bill is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh), but on a bigger scale.

1 GWh = 1 million kWh.

The total amount of electricity generated in Australia in 2012 was 249,000 GWh.

But while the parties were negotiating the RET, things were tough for the renewable energy industry because they didn't know what was going to happen.

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According to the Clean Energy Council, investment in large-scale projects fell by 88% in Australia in 2014.

"The industry was entirely frozen. There was no new investment if the situation continued," said Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton.

Those in the industry are happy to get on with it, but they're annoyed that the target only goes to 2020, because if they're going to be building massive power plants, they need to know what's going to happen more than five years into the future.

But the renewables industry are happy that the government agreed to a Labor proposal to ditch a review of the target every two years. The Climate Change Authority says frequent reviews contribute to uncertainty and discourage investment.

Under the new RET, burning native wood is considered a renewable energy source.

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The bill tabled by the government includes the burning of native wood waste in the renewable energy target.

It involves burning timber which would usually be left on the ground to burn or rot as the energy source for a power plant. Wood waste is also known as biomass.

In Manjimup WA, a company is planning to build a power plant that would use 380,000 tonnes of blue gum and pine leftover from plantations in the region. The shire president says that will create around 200 jobs for the community.

Environmentalists say wood waste shouldn't be classified as renewable energy, because timber traps massive amounts of carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.

The Greens are calling on Labor to walk away from the new RET deal over this issue.

"This deal would undermine genuine renewable energy projects that cut pollution, build the clean economy and create sustainable jobs," said Greens industry spokesperson Adam Bandt.

"The jobs of the 21st Century are in the renewable energy sector, not in cutting down and burning up our native forests."

Labor's environmental spokesman Mark Butler says they will move an amendment to the Government's legislation to have wood waste excluded from the RET.

"If the Government gets the numbers it needs to have it included in the legislation, Labor will have it removed when we return to Government," he said.

Labor has also promised to increase the 2020 RET if they win the next election.

"We firmly believe Australia should be at the forefront of renewable energy, not falling further behind," Mark Butler said.

How does Australia's renewable energy target compare to other countries?

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