RENEWABLES
AUSTRALIA’S RENEWABLES JOURNEY: MOVING FROM FOSSIL FUELS TO CLEAN ENERGY POWERHOUSE by Imogen Hartmann, Assistant Editor, Energy Magazine
Renewables are a hot topic in the Australian energy industry as the sector evolves and transforms. Australia’s abundant natural resources means a slew of potential for renewable energy, but moving from potential to delivery can be challenging. Here, we take a look back at Australia’s energy past, consider our potential, and look at some of the clean energy projects delivering big results around the country.
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November 2020 ISSUE 12
W
ith Australia being a member of the 2016 Paris Agreement, energy makes up a big component of the federal interest in meeting carbon emissions commitments. However, renewable energy still only accounts for a small percentage of Australia’s total energy production and consumption. In 2019, total electricity generation in Australia was estimated to be 265,117 gigawatt hours (GWh), and fossil fuel sources contributed 209,636 GWh (79 per cent) to this total. Coal accounted for the majority of electricity generation, at 56 per cent of total generation in 2019.
Renewable sources contributed 55,481 GWh (21 per cent) of total electricity generation in 2019, an increase of 12 per cent compared with 2018. Historically, much of Australia’s energy needs have been met by fossil fuels because of the abundance of these low-cost coal resources, which have underpinned some of the cheapest electricity in the world. But times are changing. Recently, in a study providing estimates of the cost to generate electricity from new power plants, AEMO and the CSIRO concluded that wind and solar are clearly the cheapest new form of electricity generation. These findings held true even while acknowledging the need to factor storage
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