Project Update Week Ending 31 January 2020
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Project Update Week ending 31 January 2020 Record new renewable capacity in 2019 23 January Australia is a world leader in renewable Emissions from the electricity grid are forecast energy. In 2019, we set new records for to fall by 23 per cent by 2030 as the share of renewable capacity installation and total renewable energy increases to more than a electricity generated from renewables. third in the early 2020s and 48 per cent by 2030. The Clean Energy Regulator estimates that a record 6.3 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable The key challenge to ensuring continued capacity was installed in 2019, 24 per cent strong growth in new renewable capacity is to above the previous record set in 2018. drive down the cost of storage and backup, Electricity generated from renewables is also including grid updates. estimated to have increased to a record 44 terawatt hours (TWh), 20 per cent above the That’s why the Government has invested $1.4 previous year. billion into Snowy 2.0 and MarinusLink, established a $1 billion Grid Reliability Fund The Clean Energy Regulator expects that 2020 and recently announced support terms for the will be the biggest year yet for electricity first two UNGI projects. generation from renewables (both in absolute terms and year-on-year growth) with a These are important initiatives in the forecast 26 per cent increase. Government’s A Fair Deal on Energy policy and will contribute to meeting our $70 per Based on Bloomberg New Energy Finance MWh price target and maintaining and data, Australia invested $7.7 billion or $308 increasing reliable supply of electricity. per person in renewable energy in 2019. This places us ahead of countries like the United View the energy policy blueprint here: States ($233 per person), Japan ($179 per https://www.energy.gov.au/energy-policy- person) and the United Kingdom ($109 per blueprint-fair-deal-energy. person) on a per capita basis and is more than triple the per capita investment of countries Notes: like Denmark ($95 per person), France ($90 1 Matthew Stocks, Ken Baldwin, Andrew per person) and Germany ($73 per person). Blakers, Powering ahead: Australia leading the world in renewable energy build rates, 4 Our per capita installation rate has increased September 2019, available at: more than five-fold since 2015. Last year, an https://energy.anu.edu.au/files/Renewable% Australian National University (ANU) study 20energy%20target%20report%20September confirmed this is four times the per capita %202019_1_0.pdf rate of the European Union, United States and Japan and ten times the global average.1 Source: Federal Government Page 1 (Click on relevant project links to go to online Project Database) New energy world through utilising existing gas infrastructure,” Mr Dillon said. innovation 28 January Networks are partnering with stakeholders Innovations in energy networks will allow such as universities, energy retailers and more participation by customers and enable a governments to ensure expertise is sustainable energy future according to a maintained during these projects. Find out report released by Energy Networks Australia. more about innovation here. Energy Networks Australia Chief Executive Source: Energy Networks Australia Officer, Andrew Dillon, said innovation was essential as the generation, delivery and NEW PROJECT consumption of electricity underwent extensive change. Hay 2A Solar Farm Location: Mid-Western Highway, Hay NSW “We don’t use electricity in the same way Capacity: 8 MW DC anymore, both in terms of how much we use Developer: ITP Development and when we use it,” Mr Dillon said. LGA: Hay Shire Council Status: Development application referred to “Electric vehicles, household PV solar and the Western Regional Planning Panel battery storage are tipping the system on its Estimated cost: $6.6mil head. Description: The Hay 2A Solar Farm will have a DC array capacity of 8 MW and an AC output “Whereas demand was high in the middle of of 5 MW on one of two new lots. Proposed the day, it’s now low, and where we had 14.15 hectare Lot 1 will be occupied by the steady generation from coal, we now have approved Hay 1A Solar Farm. 6.42 hectare Lot variable renewables. This makes innovation 2 will accommodate the proposed Hay 2A essential to ensure we can continue to Solar Farm. There are proposed to be ~18,500 provide reliable power as affordably as solar modules installed in 26 blocks of possible. modules. Two 2.5 MW inverter stations will be installed at the solar farm. Underground “As our network evolves, innovation is also cables will connect to the Essential Energy enabling customers to have a greater say in 33kV feeder that runs parallel to the highway how their system operates and deliver a and then connects to the Hay 33 substation. future where consumers have much greater Contact: Mishka Talent control over their energy.” Portfolio Manager The Network Innovation 2020 Report ITP Development highlights some of the significant research, Tel: (02) 6257 3511 development and deployment occurring in Email: [email protected] power networks as new techniques and technologies are investigated to manage changes in demand and generation in the most cost-effective manner. The report includes projects such as the 2019 Industry Innovation Award-winning Dalrymple Battery project by ElectraNet. “The transition to renewable gas such as biogas and hydrogen is also underway to provide zero-emission energy for household heating and cooking as well as energy storage, Page 2 (Click on relevant project links to go to online Project Database) An open letter on Australian world is only at the beginning of the climate change phenomenon. The current impacts are bushfires and climate: Urgent happening with just 1 Celsius of global need for deep cuts in carbon temperature increase, but we are set for the best part of another degree even if very emissions strong international action is taken to reduce 29 January emissions. This means further increases in The tragedy of this summer’s bushfires extreme fire risk, heat waves and flooding commands our attention, and after aiding and rains; ecosystems degraded and wild species supporting the victims it is important to learn forced to migrate or vanish; agricultural from the event. The scale and ferocity of the activities moved or abandoned, challenging recent fires are unprecedented since our food security; and so on. If strong action is European settlement of this country. They not taken, environmental degradation and arrived at the end of a year with the lowest social disruption will be much greater and in average rainfall and the highest average many cases adaptation will no longer be temperatures ever recorded across Australia. achievable. It would be naive to assume that Climate change has arrived, and without such a world will still support human societies significant action greater impacts on Australia in their current form and maintain human are inevitable. well-being. While many factors have contributed to the This dire outlook demands stronger mitigation bushfire crisis, the role of exceptional heat of carbon emissions. Many argue that actions and dryness cannot be ignored. Temperatures to achieve this would be economically nearly everywhere on Earth have been rising destructive. This claim has no basis, nor is it for decades, a clear result of the buildup of consistent with Australia’s traditional greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from optimism and ingenuity, nor with historical fossil fuel use and other human activities. The experience. Similar objections were raised in increasing variability of rainfall across the past against government policies to limit Australia, bringing more dry years, is a air pollution, environmental toxins and ozone- consequence. destroying chemicals, but we collectively found ways to achieve mitigation at These outcomes were predicted decades ago. manageable cost, and with net benefits to We should listen to the voices of not only our society that are clear in hindsight. scientists, but also those who are on the front lines fighting fires. The message is clear: the A transition to lower, and eventually net zero situation is becoming ever less manageable as emissions, is a huge task but is achievable and extreme-fire-risk weather becomes more far less risky and irresponsible than allowing common, while conditions suitable for unmitigated warming. This transition requires controlled burns to reduce fuel loads are determination on the part of leaders, as well becoming less frequent. While much remains as empathy, aid and forward planning for to be learned about the impacts of climate communities disadvantaged by the transition. change, more than enough studies have been Large transformations in the face of conducted to tell us we have a serious comparable challenges have been successfully problem that requires urgent changes to be achieved in the past, such as the development made. of road and mass transportation systems, waste-water and sewage handling to minimise We welcome government actions to help diseases, and many others. These current victims and improve adaptation to transformations created new jobs and whole future fires, as well as its acceptance of a role industries, and will do so again. for climate change in the catastrophe. But this is not enough, because the greenhouse gas amounts driving warming are still rising: the Page 3 (Click on relevant project links to go to online Project Database) Australia cannot solve climate change on its NEW PROJECT own. Reducing emissions is a global challenge Dandenong Waste-to-Energy that requires collective action. But Australia’s current visibility as ground zero for both Project climate impacts and climate policy uncertainty Location: Dandenong South, VIC presents a unique opportunity for us to Capacity: 7.9 MW emerge as a leader on this challenge. Doing so Developer: Great Southern Waste will aid our economy, strengthen our standing Technologies in international affairs and relations with Status: October 2019, Victorian EPA received neighbours, and help secure Australia and the a works approval application world from the impacts of climate change.