With global warming at an all time high, many countries are shifting towards renewable energy to curb carbon emissions associated with the burning of fossil fuels.
Australia has already implemented several of these new technologies, including Wind, Solar and Hydro.
This report aims to give insight into Australia's mission to reduce non-renewable fuel consumption and move towards a greener society
The National Electricity Market is a wholesale electricity market which operates in QLD, NSW, SA, TAS and VIC.
Their main role is to track the various sources of energy being used in Australia, and operates on one of the World's largest interconnected energy systems.
Unfortunately, non-renewable sources continue to dominate with Black and Brown Coal making up an overwhelming majority of Australia's energy consumption.
However, there is "light" at the end of the tunnel. All 5 states located within the NEM have implemented Solar Energy to varying degrees, with Queensland having 5.3% of its energy coming from solar in 2020-2021.
Several terms are often used when discussing Solar Energy:
As of 2020, Australia is ranked #1 globally for solar consumption, with 1763 kilowatts per capita.
Several factors may be at play here, including innovations in solar technology driving the upfront costs down and significant government rebates for installing solar panels. Additionally, electricity companies will often reduce household quarterly bills to further incentivise the uptake of solar.
A recent report by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency uncovered that more than 30% of Australian homes now have rooftop solar installations, further highlighting Australia's success in solar uptake.
It is no surprise that the majority of Australia's solar energy is located on the east coast which is attributable to the larger population of these areas placing a greater demand on energy sources.
As the price of solar technology continues to decrease, it is likely that we see a shift to more remote areas, which in turn supply to the larger capital cities located on the east coast of Australia.
Until then, New South Wales holds 7/10 of the Top 10 Solar sites by size, shown below.
A large scale solar site is defined as a solar site with a capacity of 100 kilowatts or larger.
The number of large scale solar sites in Australia has been steadily increasing since 2010. These sites are often located on supermarkets, hospitals and schools.
We see an increase in average solar site size indicating both an increase in quantity and size of these sites.
In 2010, the average installation size was 2430 kilowatts. In 2021, the average has more than doubled to 5467 kilowatts.
Australia clearly excels in solar consumption globally, however more work is required.
Non-renewable fuels continue to dominate the Australian energy market, with Australia's total renewable energy percentage just under 25% in 2020.
Norway and Austria demonstrate how economies of similar sizes to Australia can deliver a high percentage of total renewable energy.
In the coming years, Australia should continue to implement renewable energy as global greenhouse emissions continue to soar.