Today and Future of Renewable Energy in Australia - Case Study Example

Renewable Energy Name Unit Class Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 2 Renewable energy 2 Australian power 4 Wind energy 4 Solar power 6 Solar thermal 6 Solar photovoltaic 6 Geothermal power 7 Future of the renewable energy in Australia 8 Smart grid 9 Reduction in fossil fuels dependence 9 Domestic energy 10 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction Renewable energy Low carbon emission energy generation has been encouraged in many countries globally. This have been assisted through use of effective regulatory frameworks in coming up with sustainable energy with a main aim of reducing the carbon emission. Australia is one of the countries that have put measures on reducing carbon emissions through generation of renewable energy (Dincer, 2000). The report on the state of climate in 2012 stated that fossils fuel burning was the main cause of the rising CO2 emissions. In Australia, it was estimated that fossil fuels contributed to 38 percent of the country carbon output (Effendi & Courvisanos, 2012). The high use of fossil fuels in Australia was attributed to the abundant resources in coal and gas (ABARE, 2009). The concerns raised globally on the carbon emissions have led to Australia to increase their renewable energy production. Australian has set a target to have 20 percent of their electricity come from renewable sources by 2020 (Effendi & Courvisanos, 2012). This will help the country reduce their carbon emission, enhance growth of renewable energy and create employment (Lackner & Sachs, 2005). The country has implemented their renewable energy scheme into two parts which are small scale renewable energy and large scale renewable energy. This research project will look at how renewable energy has been implemented in Australia and how it will be sustainable and economically successful for the country in future. This will be achieved by looking at development in solar, wind and geothermal energy in Australia. Australian power According to ABARE (2009), most of the Australian power is generated from the fossil fuels. In 2011, it was estimated that coal accounted for 68 % of the Australian power generation. This is due to its low costs and abundance (Effendi & Courvisanos, 2012). There have been shift which have been pioneered by the environment change and the government efforts towards renewable energy. Most of the efforts have been put on wind, solar and photovoltaic emissions. In 2010, renewable energy accounted for 10 % of the power generated in the country. The distribution network in Australia is through separate markets hence there is no national grid. Most of the electricity grid market services the major towns and leaves some of the geographic areas out of scope (Effendi & Courvisanos, 2012). The supply model has been faced by problems with increase in demand, old generation and global environmental change. The step towards the renewable energy is aimed in helping the country in reducing green house gases and climate change. The main target on green gas emission was set as reduction from the 2000 level by 5 % in 2020 and 80 % in 2050. Research has proved that Australia can reduce the greenhouse emissions by 50 percent in 2040 through use of the current renewable energy technologies (ABARE, 2009). Wind energy This one of the most cost effective method in renewable energy technologies. In Australia, most of the wind farms are located in the southern Littorial districts due to high winds in the area. According to the American wind energy association, the cost of the power delivered can be reduced through use of economies of scale in wind energy (American Wind Energy Association, 2014). Wind energy is one of the fastest growing sectors of renewable energy in Australia. The sector has been able to compete with the coal- fired generators. Wind power generation has been on increase globally with research proving that the generation has increased four times from 1999 tom 2005. The size of the wind turbine has been the main limit. The commercial turbine with the highest output is rated at 3MW and has blades which span to 60 or more meters. The current technology has been aimed in increasing the blade size and turbines. This has led to need for lighter blades and concerns over their recycling and disposal. Some of the blades weigh up to 20 tones hence more push have been directed in coming up with lighter composite (Buckman & Diesendorf, 2010). The increase in demand for renewable energy in Australia has immense benefit in growth for the wind energy. By 2020, the government have targeted to 20 % of the energy consumed renewable (ABARE, 2009). This will get the largest share from wind energy. The country has established several wind farm projects. This is due to realization that wind turbines hold an importance place in the country energy future. Wind power has the capability to supply the sparsely populated areas and have similar cost per unit as the photovoltaic arrays that have been successfully implemented. To encourage more installations of wind power, Australian government have been in a process to introduce feed in tariff and education to public on the benefits of wind farms (Effendi & Courvisanos, 2012). Education is necessary due to concerns that there have been objections to development in wind power. These objections have been based on effects of wind farms on birds and aesthetic (Buckman & Diesendorf, 2010). Solar power Solar power in can be segmented into two main areas. The two categories are solar thermal and solar photovoltaic (Effendi & Courvisanos, 2012). Solar thermal This refers to use of solar energy for power generation. The modern solar power concentrators are capable of storing energy for electricity generation. The method used involves heating fluids to around 400 degrees and then using it to heat the molten salt or pure graphite block. The stored energy helps the power generation plant to run for seven and half hours without need for direct sunshine (Effendi & Courvisanos, 2012). In Australia, this technology of using the graphite for stotrage has been developed. Graphite has high efficiency of storage and increases the heat capacity. There have also been efforts through the solar research group in Australian National University (Effendi & Courvisanos, 2012). This is through development of the rankine cycle power conversion system. The method is based on dissociation of Ammonia through solar heat and using an exothermic synthesis reactor. Through this, it’s possible to store the solar energy in a chemical form and use it later for generation. This technology has enabled the reduction in thermal losses. Though there have been few practical implementations of solar thermal, Australia holds numerous potential especially in the less populated areas with large hours of sunshine (ABARE, 2009). Solar photovoltaic These have been mostly utilized in Australia domestic power systems. Using solar photovoltaic, it has been proved that it can provide a load factor of 15-20 %. Globally, production of solar photovoltaic cells has increased leading to more than 10 GW of installations worldwide. Germany is the world leader in photovoltaic industry with the largest market in Europe. Use of government subsidies has been able to encourage installations of the solar systems to make them competitive. Australia has adopted the photovoltaic installations (Nelson, Simshauser & Kelly, 2011). Though not as successful as Germany or Japan, Australia has put considerable efforts in the sector. This is through the use of feed-in tariffs. There have been efforts to encourage adoption of photovoltaic technology, especially in New South Wales and Tasmania. Despite this, some areas such as Western Australia have not been aggressive despite the favorable climate for solar energy. For example, areas such as Perth have 3,150 hours of sunshine yearly (Effendi & Courvisanos, 2012). Lack of national policy has led to differences in implementation. Rooftop solar has gained prominence in many homes due to rise in electricity costs. In Australia, it is estimated that by 2020, one in every 5 homes will have a rooftop solar. Australia has developed solar policies that reduced the costs of solar installations. This has made Australia to be one of the most efficient countries in solar industry. The system has been praised due to fact that it have given Australian consumers power over control of their bills and choice of electricity supply (Nelson, Simshauser & Kelly, 2011). Geothermal power Australia has a great potential for geothermal energy. The country has geothermal power source that can provide the country 26,000 years of supply by utilizing just 1% . This is the geothermal energy that is contained in the upper 5 kilometers of the Australia crust. The main issue is the fact that most of the geothermal energy sources are located long distance from populated areas. This leads to need for long power transmission links. Australia has embarked on exploiting geothermal energy with more than 32 companies in the exploitation sector. There is a company with a 50 MW plant that began in 2012 and a target of more than 2500MW within next two years. By 2030, it has been estimated that Australia will be able to have 7% of its power consumption from geothermal sources (Effendi & Courvisanos, 2012). The government has supported the geothermal sector immensely with more than $436 million which is renewable annually. There are also $ 50 million which is aimed at helping the geothermal developers to reduce the costs of drilling and exploration. This is a sector that has more potential for the power needs in Australia. Australia most successful geothermal project is located in Birdsville. This is a remote town that is far from the grid connection. The power plant is able to produce 150KW and have been able to save the town from diesel and LPG generators. This shows how the country can reduce the carbon emission through appropriate use of geothermal power stations (Dincer, 2000). Future of the renewable energy in Australia According to Effendi & Courvisanos (2012), Australia is well positioned to benefit from renewable energy. This is due to abundant resources, especially in solar, wind and geothermal power. The wind power sector in Australia is vast especially in utilization small and medium wind turbines. These are capable of supplying remote areas and sparely populated region. Despite this wind energy will play role in urban and semi urban Australia in near future. Solar power generation and solar photovoltaic has a huge potential in Australia due to large hours of sunshine in several areas in Northern Australia. Australia geothermal power has been confirmed to be enormous. Despite this, it has been under utilized in Australia. This is due to availability of coal and the distance of the resource from major population areas. There have been efforts to harness geothermal power which makes it promising as a future source of energy. The government has also supported the exploitation of geothermal energy (Nelson, Simshauser & Kelly, 2011). All the three resources cast a positive future in the Australian renewable energy sector. The renewable sector will help Australia in achieving sustainability and economic success (Gllcksman, 2008). This will be through smart grid, sustainable transport and domestic energy costs reduction. Smart grid To smooth out the load factor, smart grid will be developed. This is a system that will collect power from different sources intelligently according to demand. The grid will store the excess power generated through renewable sources and release them when needed. This is a system that is more efficient than the current system and can prevent blackouts and power surges. There will also be use of integrated high voltage direct current system for transporting renewable energy. This will help the economy in saving power costs and enjoying efficient power delivery (CSIRO, 2009). Reduction in fossil fuels dependence The petroleum trade deficit in the economy will be reduced in future through use of renewable energy. This is through the development of hybrid vehicles and bio-fuel. There will also be increase of smart cars using smart grid. Using electric cars which depend on renewable energy can greatly reduce dependence on petroleum. This will be a future benefit of renewable energy on the Australian economy (Effendi & Courvisanos, 2012). Domestic energy The number of households in Australia has increased over the years. Domestic electricity use accounts for more than 22% of the power consumed. The total CO2 emission from domestic consumption of electricity is estimated at 45 million tones. Using renewable energy to reduce households’ dependency on the non renewable sources will enable Australia to save more revenue. Renewable energy will be able to reduce households’ power bills and also help in cost reduction in CO2 emissions (Nelson, Simshauser & Kelly, 2011). Conclusion Renewable energy holds a key place in Australia economic success and sustainability. The country has vast resources which can help it achieve sustainably. The geothermal, wind and solar are the main resources which can be harnessed more to enable Australia reap maximum benefits of renewable energy. Australia is among the few continents with high number of sunshine hours and has a vast geothermal energy. Government initiatives are the key drivers in Australia renewable energy sector. The government has introduced rebates for the solar installations and feed in tariffs. There has been support in the geothermal exploration and exploitation. In future, Australia economy will benefit from implementation of smart grid, reduced dependence on fossil fuel and reduced expenditure in domestic energy consumption. There is the need for more efforts in the renewable energy sector for the Australia’s benefits and world carbon emission reduction. References ABARE. (2009). Energy in Australia 2009, Australian Government Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism. Retrieved 12th June 2014 from, http://data.daff.gov.au/brs/data/warehouse/pe_abarebrs99001629/energy_in_aust_09.pdf American Wind Energy Association. (2014). Resources. retrieved 12th June 2014 from, www.awea.org/faq/cost.html Buckman, G. & Diesendorf, M. (2010). Design limitations in Australian renewable electricity policies, Energy Policy, 38(1), 3365-3376. Retrieved 12th June 2014 from, https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/7502/1/Buckman_Design2010.pdf?origin=publication_detail CSIRO. (2009). Intelligent Grid: A value proposition for wide scale distributed energy solutions in Australiain, Australia. Retrieved 12th June 2014 from, http://www.csiro.au/~/media/CSIROau/Flagships/Energy%20Transformed%20Flagship/IntelligentGridReportFullReport_ETF_PDF%20Standard.pdf Dincer, I. (2000). Renewable energy and sustainable development: a crucial review, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 4(2), 157-175. Retrieved 12th June 2014 from, http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=nHqNDkUaYaoC&pg=PA427&lpg=PA427&dq=Dincer,+I.+%282000%29.+Renewable+energy+and+sustainable+development:+a+crucial+review,+Renewable+%09%26+Sustainable+Energy+Reviews,+4%282%29,+157-175.&source=bl&ots=wxpOrTkNx8&sig=qVNtPnl61HZ61q-S162V9ptYg-g&hl=en&sa=X&ei=b5OZU6vDHOjv0gXAmYEY&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Dincer%2C%20I.%20%282000%29.%20Renewable%20energy%20and%20sustainable%20development%3A%20a%20crucial%20review%2C%20Renewable%20%09%26%20Sustainable%20Energy%20Reviews%2C%204%282%29%2C%20157-175.&f=false Effendi, P. & Courvisanos, J. (2012). Political aspects of innovation: Examining renewable energy in Australia, Renewable Energy, 38(1), 245-252. Retrieved 12th June 2014 from, http://reginnovations.org/key-scientific-articles/political-aspects-of-innovation-examining-renewable-energy-in-australia/ Gllcksman, L.R, (2008). Energy Efficiency in the Built Environment, Physics Today, 61(1), 35. Retrieved 12th June 2014 from, http://www.urban.uiuc.edu/courses/up456/Readings/Energy/Mar28%20Physics%20Today%20%28July%202008%29%20%5BEnergy%20efficiency%20in%20the%20built%20environment%5D.pdf Lackner, K. S. & Sachs, J. D. (2005). A robust strategy for sustainable energy, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 4(2), 215-284. Retrieved 12th June 2014 from, http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/Programs/ES/BPEA/2005_2_bpea_papers/2005b_bpea_lackner.pdf Nelson, T., Simshauser, P. & Kelly, S. (2011). Australian residential solar Feed-in Tariffs: industry stimulus or regressive form of taxation?, Economic Analysis and Policy, 41(1) 113-129. Retrieved 12th June 2014 from, http://www.eap-journal.com/archive/v41_i2_01-nelson.pdf Read More