Case Study - Australia

It became quickly apparent during my last blog post that summing up the economic viability of renewables is simply not possible in the space of a single blog post. Therefore, this week, I had a look at different case studies of renewable energy, in order to get a better idea of what is being done and what can be achieved in the future.

Firstly, an interesting case that arose during my research was Australia. Australia has an energy mix dominated by fossil fuels (ease off on the BBQs maybe?), due to a low price driven by large reserves within the country. This would suggest that it would be extremely difficult for the country to migrate to renewable energy. However, reliance on fossil fuels has a secondary effect of making Australia more susceptible to fuel price fluctuations. As supplies dwindle, fossil fuel price will increase, meaning eventually renewable energy will become the more cost effective method. This point will be reached quicker due to their large reliance on carbon intensive energy and may drive a boom in renewable energy.

From a resource and implementation standpoint, Australia has one of the best positions in the move to renewable energy. There is high solar radiation, facilitating the use of solar photovoltaics in electricity production, alongside an excess of space due to low population density, providing ample room to put wind or solar power plants. The low population density also helps to overcome a common barrier to renewables – the social pressures. Wind farms particularly often face a backlash due to their obstruction of the landscape and noise. With a low population density, this is no longer an issue, as there is enough room to put these farms away from large populations and provide transmission lines to cities. Furthermore, Australia stands as a highly developed nation with enough capital to invest in a large scale movement to renewable energy.

On the implementation side, many studies have assessed the current price and future price of various renewables and found that the most cost effective method of renewable energy provision in Australia is a combination of wind and solar, with lesser contributions from biofuels and hydroelectricity to minimise costs. Solar would be more dominant if the price reduced dramatically but (as seen in my previous blog post) it is currently too expensive to be used on a mass scale. Other renewables such as geothermal power, whilst available in Australia, are not needed to provide large scale renewable energy.

Personally, I believe it is countries such as Australia which should be at the forefront of renewable development and application. Developed nations have both responsibility for past emissions, and the capital to invest in renewable energy. However, past records of energy consumption for Australia have shown little to reinforce this statement, with renewables growing at a lower rate than fossil fuel consumption (see figure 1).

Figure 1 – Australian energy consumption, 1973-2014

Similarly, whilst the reliance of the country on fossil fuels is beneficial in some forms for swapping energy sources, the sheer amount of money and investment into infrastructure needed to swap to 100% renewables all but eliminates the possibility of it happening in the short term. Perhaps rising carbon taxes and accountability for the negative effects of fossil fuel burning will force this change more effectively, but without the economic incentive, it is hard to see why Australia would make such a drastic change.