With a chorus of major industry bodies joining the renewable energy sector in calling for an end to the damaging Renewable Energy Target (RET) impasse, it is now time for political leadership to finally resolve the crisis confronting the industry, the Clean Energy Council said [today].

Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Kane Thornton said the organisation's proposal to both major parties to 'split the difference' and meet in the middle of their negotiating positions on the RET was a significant compromise from the sector in order get the industry moving again.

"This proposal was presented to the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition over a week ago, with no formal response yet received from either party," Mr Thornton said.

"This crisis in Australia's renewable energy sector will only end when the two major parties agree on a sensible outcome. Special deals with the cross bench senators or complex regulatory work around for exemptions will not provide the political bipartisanship and long-term certainty necessary to restore confidence in Australia's renewable energy sector.

"The renewable energy sector's compromise proposal of 33,500 gigawatt-hours by 2020 will preserve a multi-billion dollar investment pipeline over the next five years, creating thousands of jobs, predominantly in rural Australia. It will also generate significant business for hundreds of small businesses across Australia.

"It is now more than 13 months since this review began. It has resulted in a collapse of investment in new large-scale renewable energy such as solar and wind farms to levels almost 90 per cent lower than the year before.

"The announcement this week from one of the world's largest banks, Banco Santander, to leave Australia due to the continuing investment uncertainty, demonstrates the ongoing impact of this situation."

Mr Thornton said the Clean Energy Council proposal to resolve the RET impasse had been welcomed by a diverse set of peak business groups including the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Aluminum Council and the Energy Users Association of Australia.

"Liberal MPs Ken O'Dowd and Sarah Henderson have displayed clear leadership and spoken publicly in favour of reaching a compromise, while manufacturer Keppel Prince says it will re-employ the blue collar workers it was forced to retrench last year due to the uncertainty on the RET if a deal can be reached," he said.

"The consequences of inaction will be widespread job losses, which can be easily avoided through some much-needed political leadership. We are calling on both major political parties to work together in order to resolve this."