While ARENA will maintain funds of A$1bn for about 180 projects – mostly R&D – that have been contracted since its creation in 2012, it will see its ongoing budget reduced to a scrap of its original A$2.3bn and its functions absorbed into the Department of Industry.
The move in the country's budget prompted anger among clean-energy supporters in the Australia – especially as the Coalition government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott will earmark just A$15m for the Department of Industry to fund new renewables projects and initiatives in 2015-2016 and a further A$15m in the two years after that.
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