A new report from the Clean Energy Council has found that in 2016, 17.3 percent of Australia’s electricity came from renewable energy, the highest rate recorded this century.
The record share means Australia is now “well on track” to meet the government’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) for 23.5 per cent of energy (the equivalent of 33,000 gigawatt hours) to come from clean sources such as wind, solar and hydro-electric by 2020.
Hydropower provided nearly half of the total (42.3 percent) renewable energy increase, thanks to improved rainfall in key hydro catchment areas, but the numbers were also boosted by the completion of 10 large-scale solar and wind power projects.
6750 battery storage systems were installed in 2016, 13 times the number that were installed in 2015.
2017 “another record year for renewables”
CEC Chief Executive Kane Thornton said the dramatic reductions in production costs of these projects has spurred an extraordinary amount of commercial activity in Australia’s solar and wind sector, setting the stage for another record year of growth in 2017.
The cost of commercial-scale solar power plants has fallen by 50 percent in the past few years, Mr Thornton added.
These reductions were largely driven by project support funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and innovative finance from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).
“Every month brings new project announcements. While total investment in large-scale renewable energy was $2.56 billion last year, $5.20 billion worth of projects have secured finance in just the first five months of 2017 and have either started construction or will begin this year,” Mr Thornton said.
While installations of rooftop solar power remained steady during 2016, with 135,000 systems connected to the grid, the first three months of 2017 saw the industry post its best ever quarter for rooftop solar since August 2012.
The report notes a contraction to 11,150 direct renewable energy jobs in the 2015/16 period, but these figures covered an industry “low point” during the Abbot government’s antagonistic review of the RET.
But with over 35 RET-driven large-scale projects already under construction or starting this year, the sector is expected to add more than 4,100 direct jobs in the next 12 months.
The new projects represent 7.5 billion in commercial investment.
Renewable energy now cheapest form of new power generation
A highlight of last year was the ACT’s reverse auction for wind power. It led to the cheapest wind power ever contracted, for $73 a megawatt-hour at Neoen’s Hornsdale 3 Wind Farm.
“The changes that are happening across the country right now are extraordinary. Renewable energy is now the cheapest kind of new power generation that can be built today – less than both new coal and new gas-fired power plants,” Mr Thornton said.
