After claiming victory this week, Malcolm Turnbull said: "The Australia of the future has to be a nation that is agile, that is innovative, that is creative. We have to recognise that the disruption that we see driven by technology, the volatility in change, is our friend if we are agile and smart enough to take advantage of it."
The new Prime Minister was talking about changes that affect many parts of the economy, but the comments couldn't be more resonant for Australia's energy sector. The way we source and use power over the past decade haschanged, and the cycle of disruptive innovation is accelerating. Rooftop solar power is mainstream. Affordable energy storage is coming to a home near you. 
About 15,200 new jobs and $40 billion of investment is up for grabs. But there is also a lot of positive political capital in supporting renewable energy. Every poll done over the past five years has proven its popularity across party lines, right across the country. Australia's business community has grown to recognise the multibillion-dollar potential of renewable energy. But it has been frustrated by a very challenging couple of years, with major policy uncertainty and change to the sector's central policy, the Renewable Energy Target (RET).
Globally, renewable energy represented a US$310 billion investment pie in 2014, much more than that attracted by energy sources like coal and gas. But the uncertainty created by the RET review during this period meant Australia's large-scale renewable energy industry attracted a tiny slice of just $240 million, less than a tenth of 1 per cent of this huge global opportunity.
Fast-forward to late 2015 and bipartisan support has returned to the RET - at a level that will approximately double the amount of renewable energy across the country over the next five years. The foundations that the industry needs to thrive are now in place.
In the short term, Turnbull can accomplish much through clear statements that he recognises the big opportunities represented by renewable energy and the role it can play in Australia's future.
Dropping the government's long-held, though politically unachievable, proposal to abolish the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and Clean Energy Finance Corporation would also signal a return to common sense, given the effectiveness of these bodies. This would help to defuse much of the political risk that clouded investment under the former PM.
States setting pace
In the meantime, Australia's states and territories have been busy bridging the investment gap, led by an unexpected champion - the ACT. It has set itself an ambitious goal of getting 100 per cent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2025. It is a goal that has been championed by its Deputy Chief Minister, Simon Corbell.
The mechanism chosen by the ACT was a series of "reverse auctions", where renewable energy project proponents bid to deliver the cheapest electricity. A second wind power auction is under way and a successful large-scale solar project hasbeen completed.
NSW has a strong program to attract investment, and Victoria has released a Renewable Energy Roadmap, en route to a full action plan towards the end of 2015.
In Queensland, more than 450,000 households have installed solar power, and Energy Minister Mark Bailey said the government is determined to transform it from the Sunshine Stateto the Solar State. It has set itself an ambitious goal of 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030 and will run a reverse auction to encourage large-scale solar power plants in the region.
South Australia already produces 40 per cent of its power from renewable energy - attracting more than $5.5 billion in business and maintaining a reliable energy system. West Australian Energy Minister Mike Nahan recently declared he saw solar power as the future of energy in the state, describing it as "low-priced, democratically determined and something we are committed to facilitating".
The states want the jobs and investment that flow from renewable energy. As former National Australia Bank head Cameron Clyne told Fairfax Media this month: "This quiet energy revolution has been gathering pace, with the average cost of solar and wind power (and battery technologies) plummeting as technologies develop and deploy."
With a new Prime Minister and state governments doing all they can to attract renewable energy, a new era of strong and stable policy can see the quiet energy revolution get a whole lot louder.