Page 22 - Climate Control News magazine July-August 2022

In Focus
LOW EMISSIONS TECHNOLOGY
The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering has released its State of low emissions technology in Australia Report.
It found renewable energy is tracking towards 50 per cent of Australia’s electricity generation with solar and wind the most economical.
By 2030 renewables will supply 69 per cent of Australia’s main electricity grid, the report said.
It found the critical technology mix for Australia includes solar power, wind, pumped hydro and batteries, electricity transmission infrastructure, and electrification of transport and heating.
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Cheaper energy costs
on hold for another year
RENEWABLE ENERGY
IS TRACKING TOWARDS
50 PER CENT OF AUSTRALIA’S ELECTRICITY GENERATION IN 2025 WITH THE GRID CAPABLE OF RUNNING ON 100 PER CENT RENEWABLES BY 2030.
RENEWABLES REMAIN THE cheapest new- build electricity generation option in Australia, although inflation and supply chain disrup- tions will likely put cost reductions on hold for the next year, CSIRO’s annual GenCost report has found.
Each year, Australia’s national science agency CSIRO, and the Australian Energy Market Oper- ator (AEMO), work with industry to give an up- dated cost estimate for large-scale electricity generation in Australia.
The report considers a range of future scenar- ios to understand the mix of technologies that may be adopted and costs for each of these pos- sible pathways.
The 2021-22 report confirms past years’ find- ings that wind and solar are the cheapest source of electricity generation and storage in Australia, even when considering additional integration costs arising due to the variable output of renew- ables, such as energy storage and transmission.
According to CSIRO CEO Dr Larry Marshall, the latest report shows renewables are holding
Solar is Australia’s favourite renewable.
steady as the lowest cost source of new-build electricity.
“With the world’s largest penetration of roof- top solar, unique critical energy metals, a world class research sector and a highly skilled work- force, Australia can turn our challenges into the immense opportunity of being a global leader in renewable energy,” he said.
Projections in the report assume that cost re- ductions for all technologies will stall for the next 12 months because tight global supply chains will require more time to recover from the pandemic.
However, after the current inflationary cycle ends, solar, wind, and batteries are all projected to keep getting cheaper.
CSIRO chief energy economist Paul Graham said researchers had observed year-on-year cost reductions for most technologies and this year’s report is no exception.
“What will be different in the next year is that we will have a confluence of factors impacting project costs. The war in Ukraine has resulted in fossil energy price inflation which flows through to all parts of the economy through transport and energy costs. We also have tight supply chains that are still recovering,” he said.
The final 2022 report also includes an update
“ONSHORE AND OFFSHORE WIND COSTS HAVE FALLEN FASTER THAN EXPECTED.”
on costs of hydrogen electrolysers, which are ex- periencing rapid cost reductions and could sup- port a faster transition to green hydrogen, par- ticularly in the current context of high natural gas prices.
The updated analyses also found that both on- shore and offshore wind costs have fallen faster than expected.
Cost reductions for technologies not currently being widely deployed such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), nuclear Small Modular Reac- tors (SMRs), solar thermal, and ocean energy are lagging and would require stronger investment to realise their full potential.
The report also found the status of nuclear SMR has not changed. Following extensive con- sultation with the Australian electricity indus- try, report findings do not show any prospect of domestic projects this decade, given the technol- ogy’s commercial immaturity and high cost.
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