Renewable energy is well on the way to meeting Australian domestic power demand, a new report reveals.
Australia produced enough renewable energy between July 2016 and June 2017 to power 7.1 million homes, figures show. That’s the equivalent of 70 per cent of all Australian households.
The statistics come from the Renewable Energy Index 2016-2017 Benchmark Report, released by Green Energy Markets and GetUp.
They show growing numbers of Australians shifting from fossil fuels to clean energy like solar power.
Solar boost for domestic power savings
As the report shows, rooftop solar systems installed between 2016 and 2017 are saving consumers significant amounts of money.
They should deliver around $1.5 billion in power bill savings over the next 10 years to the households and businesses installing them.
According to the new report, this amounts to nearly $10,000 per system. In addition, the report found:
- Enough rooftop solar installed to power 226,381 homes.
- More than 150,000 small-scale rooftop solar systems installed in the year to June 2017.
- These installations supported 3,769 full-time jobs across solar installation, design and sales.
GetUp, the campaigning group backing the report, urges consumers to share the findings with their MP via their website form.
The group also asks consumers to share the page link and explain why clean energy benefits the Australian environment, economy and domestic market.
Further key clean energy report findings
In addition to the good news about renewable energy uptake, findings of the 2016-2017 data include:
- 70 per cent of all homes have the potential for solar energy, wind and water power.
- 4 million tonnes of CO2 pollution were avoided. This is equivalent to taking half Australia’s cars – around 8.1 million – off the roads.
- The resulting boom in large-scale renewable utilities employed 8,862 people.
- NSW is the leading renewables employer, creating 3,018 jobs mostly from the construction of wind farms.
- 46 large-scale renewable energy projects appeared across Australia in the 2016-17 period.
Energy market analysts, Green Energy Markets, is now set to publish a monthly Renewable Energy Index.
As a result, consumers will be able to track jobs created, power availability, pollution reduction and rooftop solar power savings in the renewable sector.
