The Clean Energy Regulator today announced that the second Emissions Reduction Fund auction will take place on Wednesday November 4 and 5, 2015, in approximately 12 weeks.
The cut-off date for new projects to become registered is Friday, 18 September 2015, in around 6 weeks. Updated auction guidelines are set to be published on Friday, 21 August 2015.
As we reported in our July In Focus, “ERF Auction Looming or a Nervous Twitch”, the announcement of auction two comes following a significant spike in project registrations in July, with 83 projects were registered for the month – 3 times the previous monthly registration high of 28 – set in March 2015, prior to the first auction.
As reported, the July spike in project registrations – exactly three months after auction one – was largely attributed to proponents readying for a possible “early” auction timeline, which would have seen the Regulator adopt a quarterly auction schedule (in line with the government’s ERF White Paper, which proposed that four auctions be held in the first 12 months of the new scheme in order to provide “regular opportunities for participation”).
Subsequently, while the jump in July project registrations indicates
