Months of strong investment have put Australia's energy transition back on track, the latest industry data shows, with momentum not expected to be upset by Donald Trump's return to power.
Australia recorded the best result for clean energy investment since late 2022, according to a Clean Energy Council report released on Monday.
Chief executive Kane Thornton told AAP investment would continue regardless of the "Trump factor" or whether the United States was in or out of international climate agreements.
Some 1400 megawatts or $3.3 billion worth of new large-scale renewable energy generation projects reached financial commitment from July to September, the Quarterly Renewables Report revealed.
Investment in energy storage projects, critical for the growth of generation and grid stability, hit a record 1235 MW/3862 MWh in the quarter - up 95 per cent on the same period in 2023.
There was also a rebound for onshore wind projects, with 1758MW of new capacity committed in 2024 to date.
Mr Thornton said the increasing activity indicated challenging economic conditions were beginning to ease, with investment in the September quarter alone surpassing all of 2023.
Based on projects under construction, the renewable energy share of Australia's energy supply is expected to be almost half by the end of 2025.
He said investors had put $40 billion into renewables and storage since 2020, and a strong July to September, if sustained, would put Australia back on track to achieve 82 per cent renewable energy generation by 2030.
Mr Thornton said there was a global shift in clean energy investment, equity and people to the US, including out of Australia, when President Joe Biden's administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022.
"If things were to slow down in the US then we could expect, all other things being equal, Australia to become more attractive and more of that to come back into Australia," he said.
"But there's an enormous amount of investment occurring into Republican states across the US and there are still very powerful drivers around investment in renewables in the US, as there are in Australia," he said.
