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By Dr. Kuntal Goswami, Australian Centre for Sustainable Development Research & Innovation (ACSDRI)
Abstract: The year 2024 was significant in the Climate Change discourse as, for the first time,the global temperature exceeded 1.5 Degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial era. Crossing this red line breached the 2015 Paris Agreement’s pledge to “pursue efforts” to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 Degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial era
In this context, ACSDRI organized a PODCAST with Farhan Ahmed on the Australian Renewable Energy Market: Technological and Sustainable Energy Market Perspectives.
Over the years, the Australian Government has contributed to improving energy efficiency in the energy system, invested in clean energy transition, and reduced its coal-powered electricity generation dependency. This initiative has positively impacted reducing total emissions by 5%and emission intensity by 4%. Solar Panels’ technological innovation and efficiency have increased from a 10% conversation rate to a 20% or even a 25% conversation rate. The increased efficiency of solar panels has made installing solar panels more commercially viable.
Key words: #sustainability #climatechange #climateaction #renewableenergy#solarenergy #sustainableenergy #acsdri #parisagreement #solarpanel
PODCAST SPEAKER – Farhan Ahmed, is an Engineer and Sustainable Energy Specialist with fourteen years of experience in the Energy Market. Farhan Ahmed advises small and large businesses to acquire renewable and clean energy to improve their energy efficiency, diversify energy sources, reduce energy costs, and reduce emissions. Farhan Ahmed is your “Energy Doctor,” who will help you and your business to become “Healthy Energy Consumers” and“ Responsible Corporate Citizens” by reducing your and your business’s Carbon Footprint.
PODCAST MODERATOR & CONTRIBUTOR: Dr Kuntal Goswami, Alan Taylor
Video Editor: Sumeet Maheshwari
Key words: #sustainability #climatechange #climateaction #renewableenergy #solarenergy#sustainableenergy #acsdri #parisagreement #solarpanel
In 2024, the World Metrological Organisation confirmed that the global temperature had exceeded 1.5 Degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial era for the first time. This rise in temperature above 1.5 Degrees Celsius is a significant event as it breaches the world leaders’ 2015 pledge in the Paris Agreement to “pursue efforts” to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 Degrees Celsius. It is a race against time for the entire human civilization. Economy”, as a society, we need to change our thought process.
We need to invest in renewable energy technologies much faster to slowdown the rise in global temperature, as power generation is the largest source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The World Energy Investment report mentioned that in 2024, out of USD 3 trillion in global energy investment, USD 2 trillion went to clean energy technologies and infrastructure (Transmission Grids and Energy Storage).
In Australia, electricity demand is expected to grow marginally over 1% between 2024 and 2026. This marginal growth in electricity demand will be from the residential sector and due to the rise of more electric vehicles (EVs). Since 2023, Australia has taken several energy efficiency initiatives, such as retrofitting commercial properties,government grants for small and medium-sized businesses, and improving the efficiency of electronic screens. All these energy efficiency initiatives have a cumulative positive impact on limiting energy demand growth.
In 2023, Australia added 6 Gigawatts of renewable energy, including 4 gigawatts of Solar energy and 1.5 Gigawatts of Wind energy, and similar capacities are expected to be added in the coming years. At the same time, the proportion of coal-powdered electricity generation is also declining. Since 2023, several large-scale battery projects, with a cumulative capacity of 1.5 Gigawatts and 2 gigawatts, have been added to the National Electricity Market.
In the Australian energy market, the overall proportion of renewable energy in the energy mix will increase from 35 % in 2023 (15% Solar,12% Wind, and 6% Hydropower) to 43% in 2026. At the same time,the share of Coal powdered energy generation in the energy mix will decrease from 48% in 2023 to 41% in 2026, whereas the proportion of Gas in the energy mix will reduce from 16% in 2023 to 15% in 2026.The Energy 2024 report highlighted that in 2023, South Australia will be the only state in Australia to generate 75% of electricity from renewable sources, including wind and Solar.
Over the years, the Australian Government has contributed to improving energy efficiency in the energy system by investing in clean energy transition and reducing its dependency on coal-powered electricity generation. This initiative has positively impacted total emissions by 5% and emission intensity by 4%.
Traditionally, electricity grids were one-directional electricity flow systems. Electricity used to flow from centralized non-renewable(black or brown coal) energy production centres and is distributed through networks (power lines) to end users (households and businesses).However, with large-scale rooftop solar systems and household batteries, electricity flow became bi-directional, electricity flowed back to the grids, and traditional end users became electricity generators. This changing scenario also posed new challenges and risks in electricity grid management. For example, under suitable weather conditions, Western Australia’s millions of household rooftop solar systems can produce more than 70% of the total demand in Western Australia’s Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM) and half of the total demand across the East Coast’s National Electricity Market (NEM). In this scenario of extra capacity generation of renewable energy, the Gridhas to match demand and supply. At times, mismatches in unplanned generation and transmission outages can threaten the electricity grid’s security and cause potential power blackouts to end users.
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO)is an independent energy market and system operator. AEMO is a system planner for the National Electricity Market (NEM) and Western Australia’s Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM).
AEMO undertakes a range of grid-management actions if a roof top solar system contributes unsynchronised electricity to the Grid. These actions include:
National Electricity Market (NEM) – NEM is Australia’s and the world’s most extended interconnected power network. NAM was formed in 1998
The Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM) operates in Western Australia, whereas the Southwest Interconnected System (SWIS) enables the buying and selling of wholesale electricity.
The Australian Government is committed to reducing CO2 emissions by promoting renewable energy generation and phasing out coal power electricity generation, and set the following targets:
Hence, in December 2023, Australia launched the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) to accelerate investment in renewable energy generation(generation), such as wind and solar clean dispatchable capacity (dispatchable), such as battery storage.
Investment in clean technologies is untested and risky; therefore, there is a need to de-risk investment in clean energy. Hence, to encourage investors, the Australian Government will act as a revenue underwriter under The Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) to decrease long-term financial risk.
All these initiatives are expected to reduce Australia’s emission intensity by 5% annually until 2026, while total power sector emissions will fall by 3% every year.
In the Podcast, Farhan Ahmed provides us with an overview of the Australian energy market. He educated us on the way Australia is transitioning towards the renewable energy generation era, how the grid functions, the Renewable Energy Target Scheme, and technological advancement in solar energy generation and battery
Australian Energy Market participants include energy generators,Network Service Providers, Energy distributors, and retailers(Generators,Small Resource Aggregators, and Market Customers)
The National Electricity Market has 600 registered participants,whereas the South west Interconnected System (SWIS) has about 72 registered generators.
Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) manages Australia’s electricity and gas systems and markets, helping to ensure that all Australians have access to reliable, secure, and affordable energy.
The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) is the rule-maker for Australia’s energy markets.
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) oversees economic regulation and rule compliance in Australia’s national energy markets.It forms part of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and enforces the rules set by the AEMC.
Clean Energy Regulator is a non-corporate Commonwealth entity established in 2011 to administer schemes and deliver high-quality services to the Australian Clean Energy Industry.
Clean Energy Council is an industry peak body for the Australian Clean Energy Industry. It advocates for, drives suitable policy, and formulates standards for the Clean Energy Industry, engaging with governments at various levels.
The Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme is an Australian government initiative since 2001 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in electricity generation and to add new renewable energy generation capacity. The Australian Government is targeting the generation of 33,000 gigawatt-hours (GWH) of electricity from renewable sources. RET has two schemes: Large-scale Renewable Target (LRET) and Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme.
Under Large-scale Renewable Target, investors are encouraged to develop renewable energy power stations, like wind and solar farms. In this LRET scheme, the Government provides financial incentives to generate electricity from renewable sources, supports it by creating a market, and provides large-scale generation certificates (LGC). Under the Large-scale Renewable Energy Target, large-scale generation certificates (LGCs) are a financial incentive for generating renewable energy from a power station.
Under the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme, the Government encourages households and businesses to install small-scale renewable energy systems such as rooftop solar panels, solar water heaters, and air-sourced heat pumps.
The efficiency of Solar Panels has increased from a 10% conversation rate to a 20% or even a 25% conversation rate.The increased efficiency of solar panels has made installing solar panels more commercially viable. In addition to increased efficiency, there are:
Lithium-ion batteries are a key and integral technological innovation to achieve net zero of The Paris Agreement and UN SDGs. As such, Lithium batteries are safe, and the chances of catching fire are pretty low.
However, the main reasons for which it catches fire are
Australia has vast arid to semi-arid regions with plenty of uninterrupted sunlight, making it a renewable energy surplus country. Hence, in 2020,the Australia-ASEAN Power Link (AAPL) project was conceived. The AAPL project is expected to be completed in 2027. The project will establish a solar energy infrastructure network that will provide Darwin and Singapore with competitively priced, dispatchable, high-volume renewable electricity.
The project comprises:
Once complete, Sun Cable’s proposed Australian-ASEAN Power Link will establish Australia as a world leader in transmitting renewable electricity across continents
Q1 An Overview of the Australian Energy Market and its stakeholders
Q2 Why did Australia opt for the Rooftop route for renewable energy in the early stage instead of large solar farms?
Q3 In Australia, which is the primary source of renewable energy, Solar and Wind energy, and why?
Q4 How did Australia perform in its quest for renewable energy compared to its peers in Developed and Developing Countries?
Q5 Renewable Energy Target scheme and its positive impact on the Australian Renewable Energy Market
Q6 Is there any linkage between the Renewable Energy Target Scheme (RETS) and the Paris Agreement
Q7 Why are big energy-producing companies rebranding themselves from non-renewable energy-producing companies to renewable energy producing company
Q8 Understanding technological innovation in Solar Technology?
Q9 To what extent are Australian businesses shifting to Renewable Energy?
Q1 How does the Electrical Grid work?
Q2 Understanding Electricity Storage Battery and why it catches fire?
Q3 New Solar PV Technology
Q4. Australia has enough vacant land to generate Solar Energy. Is there any future scope for exporting excess solar energy?
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Market bodies
Renewable Energy Target (RET)
Exporting solar energy under the sea: a potential world first for Australian technology