My definition of a pioneer is a man with nine arrows in his back. We make sure our technology providers are tried and true, and can produce energy that’s viable in a competitive marketplace.” It’s a sign of changing times in energy investment when what Clarke calls “de-risked development projects” include a biodiesel production plant and wind farms, within a portfolio which is carbon neutral overall.

QGC is not the only gas company in the mix, either, with other EIT holdings including the Esperence Energy project, a 50 per cent shareholding in a project to construct a 336km gas transmission pipeline and 33 megawatt gas-fired power station in Esperence, Western Australia. “ANZ IS sees gas as an important transition fuel for the next 20 to 30 years until a new dominant technology emerges, be that clean coal, hydrogen, nuclear or other,” Clarke says. “The reason for our view on gas is that there is growing supply from coal seam gas, it is easily transported to fuel decentralised generation – hence avoiding additional transmissions lines – it generates only 40 per cent of the emissions compared to coal and with improvements in turbine technology, uses very little water.

Of equal importance is recent cost modelling that indicates gas fired generation is now equal in cost or cheaper than coal generation, without taking into account carbon cost differences.” The cost catch-up with coal is related to the fact that coal seam gas tends to be extracted from very deep seams of coal – those that have not been exploited in the traditional way before now because of the costs involved. Even with a relatively modest carbon cost of $19 a tonne, as has been foreseen in some early Australian futures contracts, Clarke believes new coal is simply uncompetitive.

As for carbon capture and storage, the process championed by advocates of ‘clean coal’, he says the technology is too early in development to know if it will ever be viable. What infrastructure investors really need for assurance on viability is guaranteed uptake agreements, and these have been rare for alternative energy sources in Australia, especially when compared to Europe.

For instance Paul Foster, AMP Capital Investors’ head of infrastructure, says a recent hydroelectric investment in Hungary by his specialist Europe fund would not have been possible without a long term contractual uptake agreement from the country’s central energy authority. That body is incentivised to back sources like hydro because of Europe’s established carbon trading system.