An overview of Australian green energy policies, barrier and strategic decisions for green energy marketing

Abstract

Green Energy (GE) or Renewable Electricity (RE) generally means electricity generated from renewable sources such as wind, hydropower; bioenergy, solar, geothermal and biomass. This paper discusses the scenario of Australia’s RE sector, policies, barriers and marketing implications. The paper provides some background information about the Green Energy (GE) of Australia, which could potentially be useful for regulators, investors, academics, electricity companies, and Australian Government’s “Clean Energy Program”. This paper also describes a conceptual model for “Green Consumer Behaviour” and seeks to investigate these questions: what are the barriers of GE, and how government policy and marketing programs can promote the RE of Australia. The research methodology of this paper involves an analytical literature review and statistical information where data has been collected from secondary sources of Australian government energy reports and relevant departments. The barriers in production of RE consists of perceived technology; market operating mechanism, legal framework and the consumer market. Australian RE sector has contributed only to 8.9% of Australia’s electricity generation.The research states that electricity industry of Australia is the largest contributor of carbon emission, producing 38% of the total emission. The Australian Government has taken significant initiatives to confront environmental challenges of climate change, greenhouse gas emission and global warming by introducing two major schemes in the RE sector, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) and the Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme. GPE as an intangible product needs more marketing attention; it needs a social marketing approach focusing on consumer value creation, providing both monetary and non-monetary benefits to the potential green consumers