No rush on renewables target: Macfarlane

The resources industry would like certainty when it comes to renewable energy, but is in no rush for a 2030 target to be set.

That's the view of new Queensland Resources Council chief Ian Macfarlane, who was in Canberra on Wednesday on his first day in the role.

The former federal resources minister announced his retirement from parliament in February, having been first elected in 1998.

The federal government has a target of 23.5 per cent of Australia's energy needs from renewable sources by 2020.

However the states have been setting more ambitious targets, many with 2030 dates.

Mr Macfarlane said that while no industry liked uncertainty, the most immediate challenges were to analyse the report into the South Australian power outage, examine the Paris commitments and complete the federal review of the 2020 renewable energy target.

"When the commonwealth gets on track to do that, then you can look at what the target is going to be in 2030," he said.

"The challenge isn't what is the target - the challenge is getting to the target."

He said there should be "greater consistency" across the states when it came to their targets.

"You need a substantial plan of how you are going to transition from coal to gas to renewables," he said.

"Renewables have a great place in our community, but we need a mix between renewables and existing fossils."

He said in the transition it was important to keep the cost of electricity for households and business down.