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Renewable Energy News

TUESDAY 08 FEBRUARY, 2011 |

Strong 2011 Forecast For Australia's Wind And Solar Energy Sector

by Energy Matters

Despite instability in regard to various solar incentives in Australia, including a reduction in solar panel rebates in the months ahead, market research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan predicts continued high growth in wind and solar energy projects across the nation.

According to Frost & Sullivan’s Asia Pacific Program Manager for the Energy & Power Systems Practice, Suchitra Sriram, 8.67% of Australia's electricity generation is via renewable energy sources currently, making the the country's 20% Renewable Energy Target by 2020 easily achievable - and may even be exceeded. The mandatory target is a "great starting point to encourage companies planning to venture into this high growth sector."

Reaching the target is expected to generate investments of approximately 16.8 billion dollars and create over 25,000 jobs in the renewable energy sector.

Ms. Sriram says high growth areas of renewable energy in Australia are solar PV (solar panel based technologies), wind power, hydro and bioenergy, with solar PV seeing remarkable growth last year, more than doubling installed capacity in Australia.

2011 appears to be shaping up as the year of wind energy, with five large-scale wind power projects likely to generate market revenues of well over 2 billion dollars, a marked increase from the 380 million dollars in 2010.

PV based solar electricity systems will continue to see solid growth this year, growing an estimated 50% in installed capacity, thanks to solar feed in tariffs and looming electricity price rises being a major factor in households investing in green energy.