Role of the Committee

On 12 October 2016, the Senate agreed to the establishment of a new select committee, to be known as the Select Committee into the Resilience of Electricity Infrastructure in a Warming World.

The select committee was established to inquire into and report on, by 10 February 2017, the following matters:
    (a) the role of storage technologies and localised, distributed generation to
         provide Australia’s electricity networks with the resilience to withstand
         the increasing severity and frequency of extreme weather events driven
         by global warming;
    (b) recommend measures that should be taken by federal, state and local
         governments to hasten the rollout of such technologies in order to:
              (i) create jobs in installation, manufacture and research of storage
                   and distribution technologies,
             (ii) stimulate household and business demand for storage
                   technologies,
            (iii) anticipate the rapid deployment of localised distributed
                   generation through changes to market rules,
            (iv) drive the reduction in technology costs through economies of
                   scale, and
             (v) seize on the opportunities to be a global leader in deploying
                   storage technologies because of Australia’s high fixed electricity
                   tariffs and significant penetration of rooftop solar; and
    (c) any other relevant matters.