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Energy in Australia

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Overview<br />

In <strong>Australia</strong>, renewable energy sources are currently used for generat<strong>in</strong>g<br />

electricity, both on and off-grid, for residential heat<strong>in</strong>g and cool<strong>in</strong>g, for<br />

transport fuels, and <strong>in</strong> the manufactur<strong>in</strong>g sector to produce heat. Hydro<br />

and w<strong>in</strong>d energy are used on a commercial scale for electricity generation.<br />

Solar energy use is grow<strong>in</strong>g strongly for electricity generation, both on<br />

and off grid, and for hot water. Bioenergy is used for small scale electricity<br />

generation, directly for heat<strong>in</strong>g and cool<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> residential and <strong>in</strong>dustrial<br />

sett<strong>in</strong>gs, as well as for transport fuels.<br />

<strong>Australia</strong> has an abundance of renewable energy sources, and there is<br />

significant potential for future development <strong>in</strong> large scale solar energy,<br />

geothermal energy and mar<strong>in</strong>e energy. Many of these renewable<br />

technologies are currently at the proof of concept stage, or <strong>in</strong> the early<br />

stages of commercialisation. Upfront costs cont<strong>in</strong>ue to be relatively high<br />

for some renewable energy technologies. Additionally, some renewable<br />

energy sources are far from transmission and distribution <strong>in</strong>frastructure<br />

and markets, mak<strong>in</strong>g development costly and difficult.<br />

Production and consumption<br />

In 2013–14 renewable energy accounted for about 2 per cent of <strong>Australia</strong>’s<br />

energy production and 6 percent of consumption, equal to 346 petajoules.<br />

In general, the overall share of renewables <strong>in</strong> the energy mix <strong>in</strong> <strong>Australia</strong><br />

has been reasonably constant over the past decade.<br />

The ma<strong>in</strong> sources of renewable energy <strong>in</strong> 2013–14 were wood and wood<br />

products (27 per cent), bagasse (26 per cent), and hydroelectricity (19<br />

per cent). The rema<strong>in</strong>der of renewable energy production comes from<br />

w<strong>in</strong>d, solar, and other forms of bioenergy. Geothermal energy technology<br />

is not at a commercial stage; however pilot projects are be<strong>in</strong>g tested and<br />

one small generation facility operates <strong>in</strong> Queensland. The completion of<br />

a wave energy project <strong>in</strong> early 2015 and the expected development of<br />

further capacity <strong>in</strong> wave technology <strong>in</strong> 2016 will further diversify <strong>Australia</strong>’s<br />

renewable energy mix.<br />

54 ENERGY IN AUSTRALIA 2015

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