Recommendation 1

1.24    The committee recommends that the Commonwealth government adopt the recommendations made by the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee in its final report into the retirement of coal fired power stations.

Recommendation 2

2.84    The committee recommends that the Finkel Review incorporate the impacts of climate change on electricity security into its consideration and recommendations.

Recommendation 3

3.113  The committee recommends that the Commonwealth government conduct a detailed scoping study to evaluate options for distributed generation, new software services, and storage technologies to contribute to the resilience of Australia's electricity networks.

Recommendation 4

4.44    The committee recommends that the Commonwealth government continue and expand the Renewable Energy Target beyond 2020.

Recommendation 5

4.85    The committee recommends that the settlement time in the spot market be reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes, with phase-in of this rule change to be completed before 1 November 2017, and for the reliability of electricity frequency to be supported by new markets for additional services to support the grid.

Recommendation 6

4.86    The Committee recommends wholesale reform of the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC), to guarantee faster decision making and a prioritisation of the long term interests of the consumer over the interests of incumbent power generators, and a much tighter supervisory role over the Commission for the Commonwealth Energy Minister.

Recommendation 7

4.87    The committee recommends that the Finkel Review identifies other major rule impediments to assist in the full integration of renewable energy and storage with a view to speeding up the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) processes in regards to their reform.  These should then be presented to the AEMC as an urgent agenda of reform work to be prioritised and completed within six months.

Recommendation 8

4.88    The committee recommends that investment in the renewable energy sector be further encouraged through the introduction of a market-based carbon trading scheme.

Recommendation 9

4.100  The committee recommends that the Finkel review specifically examine the market rule change introduced in 2001 redefining of the normal operating band from 49.9Hz to 50.1Hz to 49.85Hz to 50.15Hz, as well as the impact that change had on total system reliability and whether it should be reversed.

Recommendation 10

4.112  The committee recommends that the Commonwealth government undertake a detailed review of policy and regulatory barriers to, or tariff structures that hinder the implementation of, energy storage technologies.

Recommendation 11

4.113  The committee notes that, despite the Prime Minister's rhetoric on battery storage, the Commonwealth government has failed to put in place any policies that support businesses or households to invest in energy storage. The committee recommends the Commonwealth government put in place policies to support businesses and households to invest in energy storage, new software services and encourage grid decentralisation, resilience and greater energy security.

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