Australia’s renewable energy push braked by slow coal decommissioning
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – New research by analyst GlobalData has shown that the pace of Australia’s push for renewable energy has slowed down.
In its latest report ‘Australia Power Market Outlook to 2030’, GlobalData notes that Australia has not been able to decommission its coal-fired power plants at the pace originally envisaged, making it difficult to fast-track renewable energy development.
“Australia has vast unused renewable potential and aims to generate 23.5% of its energy, equivalent to 33 TWh, from renewable sources by 2020, in accordance with the extended mandatory renewable energy target,” said GlobalData power industry analyst Chiradeep Chatterjee.
“As of 2017, coal dominated the Australian power mix, with a share of 37.7% of the total installed capacity, followed by gas with 28.7%.
“Australia has substantial coal reserves, which account for the dominance of this fuel in the power generation mix. The country’s coal reserves, which have higher thermal efficiency due to lower sulphur content, represent around 14% of the world’s black coal resources. Additionally, the country has 29% of the world’s uranium resources and almost 1.9% of its gas resources,” Chatterjee said.
He noted that Australia still had to move away from coal as its renewable energy target mandated generating more than 20% of its supply from renewable energy sources by 2020.
Chatterjee said that the most pressing challenge in this direction was that coal-fired power plants had not been phased out at the pace originally planned in the energy policy, leading to surplus generation capacity and low wholesale prices.
This could possibly slow down the fast growth of renewable technologies, he warned.
“The government will therefore have to create a policy environment that will expedite the decommissioning of coal-fired power plants, thus setting the way for a smooth development of renewables.”
Article Enquiry
Email Article
Save Article
Feedback
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Established in 1933, EKATO is the world leader in agitation technology, supplying agitators for processes and applications such as chemicals and...
VISIT SHOWROOM
For over 15 years, Lilak Aluminium, a trusted leader in architectural extrusion supply, has delivered excellence to businesses like yours.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
