Last year we saw so many wins for Australia’s renewables market. We even saw 4.4.GW of new installations and capacity developed across the nation. Almost a quarter of the country’s electricity supply right now all stems from these renewable energy sources. So, we can bag a few wins from 2019 overall.
But 2020 hasn’t been so lucky – for the entire world, really. Our industry is taking a hit and the economy is crashing in a way that’s eerily similar to the last recession. We’re in the midst of changes that some of us haven’t seen for 30-odd years…or at all.
While 2019 gave us 2.2GW worth of large-scale developments for renewables, and a boom in rooftop solar (third-straight record-breaking year), we also achieved the official target we had set for ourselves, a year in ahead of what was expected.
So, it’s only natural that we find ourselves comparing to the times we’re now facing. The good news is that 2020 does carry some potential for the sector, and could even be the key to stabilising our unravelling economy.
Government action against COVID-19
Australia’s State and Federal governments have been active in the response towards coronavirus. Stimulus packages and relief funding has been issued nation-wide, and the renewables market is also pushing for them to include energy storage as part of these response packages.
Clean Energy Council (CEC) Chief Executive Kane Thornton said there is a unique positioning for the market in terms of helping Australia recover from the virus’s impacts.
“The renewable energy industry is uniquely placed to lead Australia’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. In addition to providing much-needed stimulus to the Australian economy, we can insulate households and businesses from high energy costs while also ensuring that we meet our emissions reductions obligations,” he said.
And although the current circumstances are bleak, Thornton said there’s still plenty to look forward to for the field.
“There is still a strong pipeline of renewable energy and storage projects and enormous customer demand for rooftop solar and batteries,” he added. “These will be critical in replacing Australia’s aging coal-fired power stations, meeting Australia’s climate change targets and ensuring affordable and reliable power supply.”
The good news for renewable energy
- Up to 24 per cent of Australia’s total electricity generation can be attributed to renewable energy sources.
- We saw a record year in 2019 for rooftop solar – a total of 2.2GW capacity added to the grid.
- More than 2.2GW of large-scale projects and capacity was added to the grid as well, spanning throughout 34 projects.
- Two-thirds of the generation (on a large-scale basis) can be attributed to solar. There is now 1416MW of additional capacity available throughout 27 projects.
- Wind saw its best year yet in 2019. More than 837MW of new capacity was added throughout 8 new wind farms. This is the first time it’s overtaken hydro as a primary source of clean energy.
- Emerging sources – like hydrogen – also took leaps in 2019. It saw $370 million in funding designated to the field under the National Hydrogen Strategy.
- Momentum is back underway with more than 22,000 small-scale batteries installed throughout 2019 alone. This has seen household storage capacity exceed 1GWh for the first time in history.
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