Report: Critical Decade: Generating a renewable Australia

The Critical Decade: Generating a renewable Australia

Download full report: The Critical Decade: Generating a renewable Australia

Energy is fundamental to the way we live, our economy, and our future. For many years, we have used cheap and abundant fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas to produce most of our energy. Burning these fossil fuels is the main source of the greenhouse gases that are triggering the changes we are seeing in the global climate. To avoid the most damaging effects of climate change, we need to use energy more efficiently and harness energy technologies, including renewable energy, that produce either no greenhouse gas emissions or very low emissions. Australia is the sunniest country and has world-class wind resources. With some necessary changes to the ways in which electricity is produced and distributed, Australia will be well placed to further increase the use of renewable energy.

This report summarises the state of renewable energy in Australia and its potential. It is the Climate Commission’s 15th report, and draws on previous reports.

The key messages are:

1. Australia has enormous potential for renewable energy. This potential is currently under-utilised.

Australia has world‑class solar and wind energy resources in many parts of the country.
Renewable energy offers many benefits for Australia including jobs in the sector, new business opportunities, fresh investments, reduced air pollution, and connecting communities to sustainable electricity generation.
Renewable energy is becoming more and more affordable. Rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) may already be the cheapest source of power for retail users in areas with high electricity prices. Solar PV and wind could be the cheapest forms of power in Australia for retail users by 2030, if not earlier, as carbon prices rise.
Concentrated solar in Hermansberg, central Australia. Source: Flickr/Charlie Brewer
With our extensive renewable energy resources and a strong track record of expertise in developing new renewable energy technologies, Australia is well‑placed to build on recent growth in renewable electricity generation capacity.

2. Global use of renewable energy is growing strongly.

Renewable energy is a critical source of electricity for the 21^st century.
Global investment in renewable power is increasing rapidly, and reached almost $250 billion in 2011. In fact, global investment in new renewable energy generating capacity exceeded spending on new fossil fuel power plants in 2011.
China leads the world in renewable energy with the most installed renewable power and the largest investment in 2011.
In 2011, 118 countries – more than double the number in 2005 – had targets to drive investment in renewable technologies and generation.

3. Momentum in Australia for renewable energy is building.

Solar PV electricity generation has been growing rapidly in Australia. As of July 2012, almost 754,000 Australian households and businesses had installed solar panels. Queensland is leading in solar PV system installation and has doubled its use of solar energy in less than two years.
The rate of growth of wind energy is well above any other large‑scale generation source, growing at an average of 40% each year over five years to 2009‑10.
South Australia’s wind energy per capita is higher than any major country in the world and wind is now contributing approximately 26% of the state’s total electricity production.
Many of Australia’s renewable energy resources are located in regional areas, providing potential for new economic opportunities in those places.

4. In coming decades, the Australian economy could be powered almost entirely by renewable energy.

If Australia’s economy is to be powered by renewable energy, the expansion will need to be large and sustained. Investment growth will be encouraged by policy certainty.
There are challenges ahead in making sure that Australia can utilise renewable energy. Shifting from a network designed around a few large generators to one where power sources are distributed around Australia will require changes. Technological innovation is required to further develop battery storage and to keep driving down the cost of renewable energy.

5. We have less than four decades to transform energy systems around the world to energy sources that do not contribute to climate change.

To avoid the most damaging consequences of climate change we must virtually eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels within decades.
To do this, we need to use energy more efficiently and harness low‑emissions energy technologies including renewable energy.
The challenge is to turn Australia’s enormous potential of renewable energy into implementation at scale as rapidly as we can at the lowest cost possible.

Author: Tim Flannery