David Mills, the chairman of California based solar thermal energy company Ausra, has said the $500 million grants programme provided through the Renewable Energy Fund did not go far enough in ensuring the uptake of new technologies. He has criticised the Federal Government's $500 million grants programme in Australia, designed to accelerate the development, commercialisation and deployment of renewable energy technologies, as insufficient.

"Sharing $500 million between ten companies is not going to do a lot for this technology," Dr Mills said. "You really need market measures."

He criticised a lack of government commitment within Australia to develop a national feed-in tariff that would see electricity retailers paying solar powered households and businesses for the clean energy they produce.

"What we see here is a feed-in law promise that seems to be fading," he said. "You've got the Senate report that's positive about feed-in law, which supported a market mechanism being considered, and yet that has been held back."

The Senate Environment Committee inquiry found that a gross tariff paid to households and businesses producing renewable energy contributed to the expansion of the solar energy industry in Germany and Spain. Two state governments, Western Australia and the ACT, have expressed commitment to a gross feed-in tariff, while other states have announced a minimal fee for households feeding clean energy back into the electricity grid.