Australia To Lead Energy Transition

Despite short-term challenges such as the coronavirus-crisis, Australia is set to become the world’s leader in the energy transition in the long term, achieving the fastest transition to an overwhelming share of renewable sources in its energy mix, data and analytics company GlobalData said on Monday.

Australia has a strong pipeline of solar and wind power projects, which are set to bring investor confidence in the market, GlobalData said.

“The country’s declining cost of distributed energy resources, variable energy, and the willingness to provide cheap electricity to its consumers will be strong underlying catalysts for the roadmap towards achieving 94% renewable generation mix by 2040,” according to the data and analytics company.

“Australia currently has a strong renewable pipeline of 102GW, comprising of projects in nascent and advanced stages. Out of this, 102G of wind and solar PV represent almost 90% of the pipeline,” said Somik Das, Senior Power Analyst at GlobalData.

“The government has put the final nail in the coffin for coal-fired power plants, having no plans to continue coal and gas generators beyond the planned retirement dates. In fact, there is potential for coal and gas generators to retire earlier if renewables provide greater cost benefits before the 2040 horizon,” Das noted.

Australia is also home to the world’s largest lithium-ion battery in South Australia, which will be further expanded by 50 percent and has a project to become a major exporter of renewable energy.

Under the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) 20-year blueprint for Australia’s power generation, by 2034-35, renewable generation may, at times, deliver 85 percent of generation. By 2040, in the step-change scenario, variable renewable energy could account for up to 94.2 percent of electricity generation.  

“This system is now experiencing the biggest and fastest transformational change in the world since its inception over 100 years ago,” AEMO’s report said.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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