Australia’s renewable energy sector is within striking distance of matching national household power consumption, cranking out enough electricity to run 70% of homes last financial year, according to new figures.
The first Australian Renewable Energy Index, produced by Green Energy Markets, finds the sector will generate enough power to run 90% of homes once wind and solar projects under construction in 2016-17 are completed.
The index, funded by GetUp through supporter donations, underlines the advance of renewables. Renewables, which made up just 7% of national electricity output a decade ago, jumped to 18.8% last month. This is saving the power sector from carbon pollution equivalent to taking more than half of all cars in Australia off the road, according to Green Energy Markets.
Green Energy Markets analyst Tristan Edis said the emergence of renewables, in particular wind and solar, as a “significant source of power” had ushered in a “construction jobs and investment boom”.
He said investors had “recovered their confidence under Malcolm Turnbull”, with help also from “a range of state government initiatives”.
Edis said the renewables sector was on track to meet the federal government’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) of 20% of total generation by end of 2018 – earlier forecast as year 2020.
However, the renewable jobs boom underpinned by the RET could “soon turn to bust”, he said. Renewable investment beyond the RET risked collapsing without the Turnbull government moving forward on chief scientist Alan Finkel’s recommendation for a future “clean energy target”, he said.
Miriam Lyons, GetUp’s energy campaigns director, said that “everyday Australians are voting with their rooftops” in a move that “heralds the end of the era of big polluting energy companies dominating the market and manipulating prices to fill their own pockets”.
“We can thank the thousands of everyday Australians who stood up and defended the national [RET] from Tony Abbott’s attacks, who saved [the Australian Renewable Energy Agency] from federal government budget cuts, and who pushed their state governments into showing some leadership on clean energy.”
The Australian Renewable Energy Index will be published monthly.
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Source: The Guardian, 27 August 2017