The future of major renewable energy projects in South Australia remains in doubt, despite the State Government announcing plans to increase SA’s  Renewable Energy Target (RET) to 50%.

Last week Premier Jay Weatherill said the revised target – up from 33% – would encourage investment in clean energy and “create jobs and drive capital investment and manufacturing industries”.

But according to Chris Judd, the CEO of the Australian branch of turbine manufacturer Senvion, any new, large-scale clean energy projects would not go ahead unless the Federal Government committed to a “strong and effective” RET.

In February, the State Government granted development approval to Senvion to construct a 197-turbine wind farm across a 18,000-hectare area near Black Point, on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula.

The $1.5 billion Ceres project, which Deputy Premier John Rau declared would “avoid the creation of 2.5 million tonnes of carbon pollution”, was expected to generate 500 jobs during construction and 50 permanent maintenance jobs for the next 25 years.

But investment in the Ceres project stalled in the lead up to, and following, the release of the Federal Government’s review of RET program in August.

Chaired by Dick Warburton – the Former Reserve Bank Board member and self-confessed ‘sceptic’ of the effect of man-made carbon on rising temperatures – the feview panel included in its recommendations a proposal in which the RET scheme be “closed off to new entrants” and the 20% target be lowered to 15%.

In a statement to InDaily, Judd said that while he was encouraged by the Premier’s announcement last week, the Ceres Project, which was expected to create the largest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere, would not be able to proceed if the Federal Government were to cut, or scrap entirely, the current RET scheme.

“The Premier’s announcement is encouraging news for project, however, until we get bipartisan commitment to a strong and effective Renewable Energy Target we will not see any new, large scale renewable energy projects in Australia,” Judd said.

“It is critical that we resolve the future of the Renewable Energy Target and end the investor uncertainty that is killing the clean energy industry.

“In order for any new projects to proceed investors need to see a stable and supportive policy environment for renewables.”

The Federal Government is expected to finalise its response to the Warburton Report over the coming weeks.

Russell Marsh, a policy director at the Clean Energy Council, told InDaily he hoped the Government would recognise the efficacy of the RET scheme.

“What we hope will happen (at the Government review), is that the Government realises that it shouldn’t, and doesn’t need to change the Renewable Energy Target” Marsh said.

“Re-modelling has shown that the scheme is doing its job – power prices are lower with a high RET.

“The reality is that people want renewable energy – 70% of Liberal voters want renewables and there are two million Australian households with solar panels – so we need to make sure we encourage investment in clean energy projects.”

The debate over renewable energy targets comes as UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon told last week’s Climate Summit in New York that the “human, environmental and financial cost of climate change is fast becoming unbearable”.

Despite being present in New York, Prime Minister Tony Abbott chose not to attend the meeting.

The Australian representative, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, told the assembled delegates that the nation was “striking a responsible balance of safeguarding economic growth while taking action on climate change”.