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| Renewable energy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Australia has access to a range of high quality renewable energy sources which are used for heating, electricity generation and transportation. Renewable energy accounts for 5 per cent of Australia’s total energy consumption. At present, renewable sources used to generate electricity include hydro, biomass, wind and solar. Renewable energy contributes around 6.5 per cent of electricity generation for public consumption in Australia with some 6.1 per cent sourced from hydroelectricity. While wind and solar energy have enjoyed strong growth over recent years, these sources still only represent 0.4 per cent of electricity generation for public consumption. Emerging renewable energy technologies include geothermal, wave and large scale solar generation technologies. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Production | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australian production of renewable energy is dominated by bagasse, wood and wood waste, and hydroelectricity, which combined accounted for 86 per cent of renewable energy production in 2006-07. Wind, solar and biofuels (which include landfill and sewage gas) accounted for the remainder of Australia’s renewable energy production. Most solar energy is used for residential water heating and this represents less than 1 per cent of final energy consumption in the residential sector. Renewable energy production increased by 16 per cent in the five years from 2001-02 to 2006-07. In 2006-07 renewable energy production increased by 10 per cent. Wind energy and photovoltaic electricity production experienced the largest increase, from 6 petajoules in 2005-06 to 23 petajoules in 2006-07. Solar hot water also increased strongly, from 2 petajoules in 2005-06 to 6 petajoules in 2006-07. Hydroelectricity was the only renewable energy source to fall in 2006-07, with a decrease of 10 per cent. |
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| Capacity | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The distribution of renewable energy production facilities in Australia reflects the climatic characteristics of different regions. Hydroelectricity capacity in Australia is located mostly in New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland and Victoria; while wind farms are mostly located in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. Almost all bagasse-fuelled energy production facilities are located in Queensland where sugar production plants are located. In contrast, there is a more even distribution of biogas-fuelled facilities across Australia, as these facilities are mostly based on gas generated from landfill and sewerage. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Potential | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A range of policy measures have been introduced in Australia to support the uptake and development of renewable energy. These measures include the Australian Government’s Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET). The MRET was designed to increase electricity generation from renewable energy sources by 9500 gigawatt hours per year by 2010. The renewable energy sources which have experienced the greatest growth under the MRET are wind energy and solar hot water. In 2007, electricity generation from wind was 2330 gigawatt hours higher than in 1997. In 2007, the Australian Government committed to ensuring 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity supply comes from renewable energy sources by 2020. This is to be achieved by increasing the national renewable energy target from 9500 gigawatt hours to 45 000 gigawatt hours by 2020. Significant growth in renewable electricity generation capacity is planned for the next few years. There are 11 renewable electricity projects at an advanced planning stage and a further 49 projects at a less-advanced stage. Of these, seven are advanced wind energy projects and 42 are wind projects at a less-advanced stage (ABARE, Electricity generation major development projects, October 2008). There is growing interest in solar thermal technology for electricity generation. A 10 megawatt solar thermal plant is expected to be constructed in Cloncurry, Queensland, by 2010. There are also several wave energy projects planned for 2010 to 2011. Geothermal energy is a potential renewable energy source which is currently relatively undeveloped. There is one geothermal project in operation in Australia. A recent addition to geothermal energy prospects in Australia is the development of hot rock technology. Hot rock technology is similar to conventional geothermal energy in that it uses the heat emanating from inside the earth. However, where conventional geothermal energy relies on steam which is vented naturally near volcanic centres, the hot rock process requires water to be pumped deep below the earth’s surface. Although hot rock technology is not yet commercially viable, significant investment has been made to develop the technology. Work programs in place for the period from 2002 to 2013 are valued at more than $1 billion. In November 2008, there were 10 hot rock companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. This investment is currently focused on resource exploration. By November 2008, 40 companies had applied for geothermal exploration licenses, which cover an area of more than 265 500 square kilometres. |
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