THE FUTURE OF SOLAR IN AUSTRALIA
Australia, with its abundance of sunlight hours, is well and truly taking the opportunity to harness the sun’s abundant energy. By choosing to use solar power to power their homes, businesses and public spaces, Australians are helping build our clean energy future and are taking control of their electricity bills.
Solar energy now supplies 15% of Australia’s electricity (almost 4% worldwide). As good as that sounds, this is just the tip of the melting iceberg. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) wants to increase this to 50% to limit the impact of fossil fuel emissions on heating the climate.
In 2021, 29% of Australia’s total electricity generation was sourced from renewable energy. This was the highest on record.
Solar and wind have been the leading drivers in renewable generation expansion, more than doubling the growth over the last 10 years. In just one year, small-scale solar generation increased by 29%. Wind generation increased by 19%.
Large-scale solar generation has expanded exponentially. It has grown from negligible levels pre-2016 to 4% of all Australian electricity generation by 2021 which represents a growth rate across the 5 years from 2016-2021 five-year growth rate of 1,747%.
As we look forward to updated statistics (due September 2023) we can assume continued growth.
Solar in Australia is on the up and up and is an essential way forward. The nearly 30% usage of renewable energy will undoubtedly increase significantly.
Will we ever reach 100%? Some are concluding that this is a realistic goal and could be achieved, with the right political pro-activity, in a much shorter time than the cautious are willing to say out loud. Time will tell but what time has told is that now is the moment to invest. For companies investing in solar there is a huge decrease in operating costs. For households, well, same thing! It’s a win for all.
WHY THE INCREASE IN SOLAR INVESTMENT?
There are two things driving the solar power market in Australia: rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, and increasing usage of large-scale solar PV systems. One of the prominent factors behind the acceptance of these large-scale projects is the significant reduction in the cost of solar PV. The cost reduction has been driven by several factors including federal and state governments providing grants for the development of large-scale solar PV projects. According to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), grants helped create 1.5 GW of new grid-connected solar farms in 2019.
For households it is grants, increased market competition, improved products, awareness, word-of-mouth and more that are driving the growth.
People are also waking up to the importance of utilising renewable energy over fossil fuels for the health of the planet. In Australia natural disasters including droughts, bushfires, cyclones and mass flooding have always been an issue but the increasing frequency of these events has pushed Aussies into a state of awareness over vital steps needed to care for the country and the earth as a whole.
This article was brought to you by enewabl, the solar energy specialists.
Whether or not you feel ready to invest in solar energy, now is the time to start planning to avoid being left behind.
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