CLEAN ENERGY AUSTRALIA REPORT 2021 AUSTRALIA CLEAN ENERGY CLEAN ENERGY AUSTRALIA REPORT 2021 CONTENTS 4 Introduction 6 2020 snapshot 12 Jobs and investment in renewable energy by state 16 Industry outlook: small-scale renewable energy 20 Industry outlook: large-scale renewable energy 22 Federal politics 24 State policies 26 Australian Capital Territory 28 New South Wales 30 Northern Territory 32 Queensland 34 South Australia 36 Tasmania 38 Victoria 40 Western Australia 42 Employment 46 Renewables for business 50 International update 52 Electricity prices 54 Transmission 56 Energy reliability 58 Technology profiles 60 Battery storage 64 Bioenergy 66 Hydro and pumped hydro 68 Hydrogen 70 Solar: Small-scale systems up to 100 kW 78 Solar: Medium-scale systems between 100 kW and 5 MW 80 Solar: Large-scale systems larger than 5 MW 84 Wind Cover image: Wind turbine blade installation, Collector Wind Farm, New South Wales INTRODUCTION Kane Thornton Chief Executive, Clean Energy Council Australia’s clean energy came from clean energy sources, territories’ progressive energy policies transition accelerated with wind and rooftop solar leading only served to highlight the ongoing again in 2020 as wind the way. This represents a massive failures at the federal level, where transformation that makes Australia’s arguments about government support and rooftop solar set new electricity system cheaper, more for gas and coal overshadowed some records, battery storage reliable and, most importantly, cleaner. genuinely positive developments. came of age, and the But the best news is that the shift is These included the continued showing no sign of slowing down. hydrogen sector continued growth of clean energy jobs, with the its rapid development. An enormous amount of new clean industry employing more than 25,000 This all points to Australia energy capacity was added in 2020 as Australians in 2020, and the hundreds realising its potential as a both the rooftop solar and wind sectors of dollars that households and clean energy superpower. set new annual records. Emerging businesses saved on their electricity technologies also made rapid progress, bills due to the recent influx of new with several major utility-scale battery renewable generation. These are The Australian renewable energy announcements and considerable just a small sample of the benefits industry has come a long way in the investment in renewable hydrogen of renewable energy, and there is past five years. In 2016, just 17 per building strong momentum for these enormous potential for more in the cent of the country’s electricity came exciting new technologies. coming years as the industry continues to grow. from renewables, and the majority of Much of this progress was driven by this was due to New South Wales and state and territory governments, which First though, the industry will need to Tasmania’s long-serving hydro systems. introduced a number of world-leading overcome ongoing grid connection Fast forward to 2020, and more than renewable energy policies and targets and transmission challenges, which 27 per cent of Australia’s electricity in 2020. However, the states and continued to plague renewable energy Image: Warwick Solar Farm, Queensland 4 ABOUT US developers in 2020. While the The Clean Energy Council We are committed to accelerating market bodies made some progress is the peak body for the the transformation of Australia’s on resolving these challenges energy system to one that is smarter throughout the year, much more renewable energy and and cleaner. The Clean Energy work and investment is required to energy storage industry Council leads and supports the ensure that Australia’s clean energy in Australia. We represent growth of the clean energy industry transition can continue unimpeded. and work with hundreds in Australia by: The COVID-19 pandemic meant of leading businesses • providing a strong voice for our that 2020 was a difficult year operating in solar, wind, members for many Australians, but the hydro, bioenergy, energy • standing up for the industry renewable energy industry storage, hydrogen and • developing and driving effective continued to provide hope that policy and advocacy Australia’s other great challenge emerging technologies • working with industry to – climate change – is being along with more than continually improve standards addressed. The industry’s incredible 7500 solar and battery and maintain integrity progress over the past five years storage installers. • working closely with local, state is just the beginning of a long and and federal governments to challenging journey towards our increase demand for clean energy vision of a clean energy future. It’s products a journey that I’m looking forward • providing services and initiatives to, both in 2021 and beyond. to members and the wider industry that help to grow the sector • promoting the clean energy industry. 4 5 2020 SNAPSHOT Image: Panel installation, Warwick Solar Farm, Queensland 6 The Australian renewable energy industry’s 27.7% record-breaking run continued in 2020, despite Australia's electricity the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. generation from renewable sources in 2020 The growth of Australia’s renewable large-scale solar farms, 21 were wind energy industry showed no sign of farms, three were bioenergy plants, slowing in 2020 as increased support while three were hybrid plants from state and territory governments producing at least two different types >3 GW saw numerous records set across the of renewable energy. small-scale solar capacity large- and small-scale sectors. added in 2020 The expansion of Australia’s large- The industry passed a significant scale renewable energy industry is milestone in 2020, with more than being led by state and territory a quarter of the country’s total governments, who made considerable electricity generation coming from new commitments to the industry in renewable sources for the first time. 2020. The New South Wales 76 Renewables were responsible for Government’s Electricity large-scale wind and solar 27.7 per cent of total generation in Infrastructure Roadmap was the most projects under construction 2020, an increase of 3.7 percentage ambitious renewable energy policy at the end of 2020 points compared to 2019. released during the year, promising to Much of this increase was due to the deliver 12 GW of new transmission small-scale solar sector, which added capacity to facilitate the construction more than 3 GW of new capacity in of three renewable energy zones 12 GW 2020 to record its fourth-straight across the state. new transmission capacity record-breaking year. This brought the Tasmania passed a major milestone promised by the New sector’s share of Australia’s renewable in 2020, becoming the first Australian South Wales Government’s energy generation to 23.5 per cent, state to source 100 per cent of its Electricity Infrastructure pushing it past hydro into second electricity from renewable sources. Roadmap place for the first time. The Tasmanian Government has now The large-scale sector contributed set a 200 per cent renewable energy almost 2 GW of new capacity in target by 2040, which is the world’s 2020 as 32 projects were completed most ambitious target for renewables. around the country. While the South Australia passed its own majority of these projects were significant milestone in October 2020, large-scale solar farms, representing when 100 per cent of its electricity 893 MW of new capacity, the wind came from solar for one hour, the first sector accounted for the bulk of new time this had been achieved by a generation, adding 1097 MW jurisdiction as large as South Australia throughout the year. This was a new anywhere in the world. record for the sector, comfortably Federal politics was dominated by the surpassing the 837 MW record set COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. As the in 2019. immediate health crisis abated, the A further 76 large-scale wind and focus turned to economic recovery solar projects were under construction and the opportunity to stimulate the at the end of 2020, representing more economy by accelerating the clean than 8 GW of new capacity and energy transition. Rather than employing over 9000 Australian grasping this opportunity, the workers. Of these projects, 49 were government opted for a “gas-fired 6 7 2020 SNAPSHOT CONTINUED recovery” that included a threat The battery storage sector rose to 16 to build a government-owned prominence in 2020, with 16 utility- 1000 MW gas-fired power station scale batteries under construction at utility-scale batteries under in New South Wales. the end of 2020, representing more construction at the end of than 595 MW of new capacity. This However, pressure on the government 2020 will increase significantly in the to increase its emissions reduction coming years following the ambitions began to grow towards the announcement of several major end of 2020 following the election of utility-scale batteries throughout the Joe Biden as US President and several year, including several projects that 23,796 of Australia’s major trading partners will again make Australia home to the small-scale batteries installed adopting a net-zero emissions target world’s largest battery. Australian by Australian households in by 2050. households installed 23,796 small- 2020 The challenges associated with grid scale batteries with a combined connection and transmission capacity of 238 MWh in 2020. continued in 2020 as the need for Several noteworthy steps were taken additional investment in transmission