This paper assesses the policy, regulatory and institutional settings for renewable energy in Australia. This assessment is premised on the following arguments: a) the extent to which renewable energy is likely to contribute to electricity defossilisation will be largely determined by the efficacy of the policy, regulatory and institutional settings; and b) most of the existing discussion on renewable energy is neglectful of the significance of these settings. The assessment suggests that the overall policy, regulatory and institutional settings for renewable energy in Australia are characterised by a lack of political constituency for redressing climate change challenge, thereby piecemeal policy for promoting renewable generation, significant regulatory uncertainty, and limited institutional capacity. The assessment also suggests that this lack of political constituency is primarily a reflection of the broader electricity and socio-economic policy settings, which have historically favoured cheap and abundant indigenous coal for power generation, to serve wider socio-economic priorities and agendas. In such environments, issues of climate change have assumed a dormant role. Hence – inefficacious policy, regulation and institutions for promoting renewable generation.

This paper extends the ambit of the debate on electricity transition by, specifically, identifying possible policy entry points through which transformative and enduring changes can be made in the electricity and socio-economic systems to facilitate the transition process. Guided by the ‘essence’ of the multi-level perspective (MLP) – a prominent framework for the study of energy transition, four such entry points have been identified: 1) destabilising the dominant, fossil fuels-based electricity regime to create room for renewable technologies to break through; 2) reconfiguring the electricity regime, encompassing technology, short-term operational practices, and long-term planning processes, to improve flexibility to accommodate large outputs from variable renewable sources while maintaining supply security; 3) addressing the impact of coal power phase-out on coal mining regions in terms of economic development and jobs; and 4) facilitating a shift in transition governance towards a learning-based, reflexive process. Specific areas for policy interventions within each of these entry points have also been discussed in the paper.