The Clean Energy Council has said, in its annual report that Australia’s renewable energy industry is growing at half the pace needed for the sector to meet the Albanese government’s emissions reduction goals, despite the sector having one of its best years.
Recall that construction commenced on a record of more than 5,000MW of large-scale wind and solar farms last year. The council said that Work also started on 19 big batteries with 1,380MW/2,004MWh capacity, or almost half as large again as the previous record year in 2021.
According to reports, households also joined in the renewables rush, with 310,000 new solar systems with a capacity of 2,700MW added to rooftops. While down on 2021’s record of 3,300MW, the extra capacity increased the share of total renewable energy on rooftops to 25.8%.
Renewables supplied 35.9% of Australia’s total electricity generation last year, up from just under 17% in 2017, the report said.
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In his reaction, the Clean Energy Council’s chief executive, Kane Thornton said that while there was a “significant cause for optimism at a time when ageing fossil fuel-based generators are retiring”, the speed of renewables’ advance needed to double to meet the federal government’s 2030 target. The emissions target implies an 82% reduction in the sector’s pollution compared with 2005 levels.
“2022 was a good year for projects under construction but a slower year for projects reaching financial close,” Thornton said. “Whatever way you look at it, we have to accelerate it.”
He further stated that the renewables sector has been buoyed up by a closer alignment of federal and state policy since the election of the Albanese government, adding that a more interventionist approach by some states to the power sector was creating a new form of uncertainty for investors
Thornton also noted that expanded, extended renewable energy targets would be one way to bolster the industry. The urgency has increased given other nations – particularly the US with its open-ended Inflation Reduction Act – are quickening their investments in clean energy.
“The challenge for the government is that we’ve really blown the last 10 years,” Thornton said. “Now we’re really playing catch-up.”
Story was adapted from The Guardian.
