By Cathy Alexander
The federal government on Monday announced it would end the Renewable Remote Power Generation Program in all states except Western Australia, effective immediately.
The program was supposed to run until mid-2011.
It had provided grants of up to $200,000 to remote-area households and businesses to install clean energy generation, largely solar and wind power.
The decision comes two weeks after the government scrapped its $8,000 rebate for solar panels for grid-connected households.
And it comes one week after a replacement rebate was thrown into limbo due to political wrangling over the government's renewable energy plans.
Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt warned that companies would have to sack workers and rural households would miss out on clean energy because of the most recent changes.
"Once again, solar companies around Australia have been sent into chaos as they discover that contracts will be torn up," Mr Hunt said.
Solar company Solar Shop Australia said the end of the remote-area grants was another blow to the renewable energy industry.
Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said the rebate was closed due to unprecedented demand.
She said the industry was told in April that the rebate was close to being over-committed. This was confirmed in budget estimates in late May.
The government was working on "more consistent" policies to promote renewable energy, which was what the industry wanted, Senator Wong said.
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