The Clean Energy Finance Corporation gets an overhaul of its board. "Jillian Broadbent and her fellow board members have provided outstanding service on the board of the CEFC," Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg told Fairfax Media. "I look forward to their successors continuing the important work." The Coalition's stance has shifted markedly on the CEFC. After the Abbott government failed to win Senate support to axe the Gillard government-created agency, the Turnbull government has increasingly accepted its value in spurring investments from the private sector in emerging renewables and energy efficiency projects. As reported by Fairfax Media this week, the agency is generating rapid growth in both transactions and investment totals, including $2.1 billion committed last year alone. Private partners in the ventures tip in about $1.50 for each $1 dollar invested by the CEFC. "We've survived and succeeded," Ms Broadbent said. "Our results cover the cost of government funds, our own operating costs and we make a surplus."

Deutsche Bank vice chairman Steven Skala. Credit:Jesse Marlow "The Minister has taken into account the skills needed" in appointing the four new members, she said, adding she was "very happy to pass it on" to such safe hands. The other three are Leeanne Bond, Samantha Tough and Nicola Wakefield Evans. Ms Bond is "one of Australia's leading engineers and has extensive experience in the water and energy sectors in Queensland and the Northern Territory" and is on the board of Snowy Hydro, the government said in a statement. Ms Tough serves on the boards of Synergy and Saracen Holdings and "has had a distinguished and varied career in the energy and resources industries in Western Australia", the statement said.

Ms Wakefield Evans is described as "one of Australia's leading corporate and commercial lawyers", and serves on the boards of Macquarie Group, BUPA Australia and Lendlease Corporation. Kane Thornton, chief executive of industry group the Clean Energy Council, said all four incoming board members were "well-credentialed". The CEFC had "certainly been a very important organisation for the sector" and had helped drive substantial levels of investment into the sector, Mr Thornton said. The industry is set to score $10 billion in renewables investment this year, including $8 billion in large-scale wind and solar projects, and $2 billion in new solar panels fitted on the roofs of homes and businesses. "There's an unprecedented level of large-scale investment now under way," he said.

Loading Illustrating the renewed confidence in the sector, this year's Clean Energy Summit, which wrapped up in Sydney on Wednesday, sold out all 630 places. That tally was up about a quarter on last year, Mr Thornton said. Even with the revival of the sector, the CEFC continued to have a key role to play as advancing technologies from energy-saving devices to new financing instruments continued to emerge, Ms Broadbent and Mr Thornton said.