Energy in Australia
Energy-in-Australia-2015
Energy-in-Australia-2015
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
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