The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) finds Australia is “Saudi Arabia” of renewable energy

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), the body charged with running the nation’s energy supply, has modelled the feasibility of switching to 100 per cent renewable electricity generation by 2030 and 2050. This week, AEMO buried its findings in its monthly Energy Update.

AEMO isn’t due to release its draft report on the study until next March. By the end of the year, the government will already have released its Energy White Paper to chart future energy policies for years to come.

More crucial for the renewable energy sector, though, may be the release of the government’s review into the Renewable Energy Target (RET), perhaps within weeks.

Renewables: Australia’s a land of plenty SMH October 26, 2012 Peter Hannam Carbon economy editor When feisty UN climate change chief Christiana Figueres swept into Sydney this week, she mocked suggestions Australia is alone in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

“Nothing could be further from reality,” Ms Figueres told the Lowy Institute. Rather than excoriate the government for holding out on signing up for the second round of the Kyoto Protocol to set emission targets, the diminutive diplomat instead stressed how the country was “blessed” with renewable energy resources the envy of much of the world.
While many nations were keen to tap such resources in order to improve health and lower carbon emissions, the real appeal, she said, was economic: “None of them is trying to save the planet. They’re doing it because it’s in their national interest and that’s the most important motivator.”
But for national interest to be rightly understood — and acted upon — it helps if the population is aware of what’s possible.
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), the body charged with running the nation’s energy supply, has modelled the feasibility of switching to 100 per cent renewable electricity generation by 2030 and 2050. This week, AEMO buried its findings in its monthly Energy Update.
The national electricity market is now about 200 terawatt-hours (or 200 million megawatt-hours), a total the AEMO modelling found within reach, and then some:
“The study shows there is potential to produce around 500 times that [total] if all possible sources of renewable energy available across eastern and south eastern Australia were tapped into.”
The huge multiple was derived even with conservative assumptions, such as excluding any land with a greater than 1 per cent slope from consideration for solar power, national parks and local planning rules which have tightened restrictions on wind farms in states such as Victoria. Much of South Australia and Queensland were also omitted from the study’s range…….

Matthew Wright, executive director of Beyond Zero Emissions, said the full potential of Australia’s renewable energy is dawning on more people.
“In Australia we are the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy,” Mr Wright said. “The only difference being that Saudi Arabia doesn’t have enough oil to satisfy the world’s oil demand whereas Australia has a renewable energy resource (proven by AEMO) that can satisfy the entire world’s electrical demand.”

(A Beyond Zero Emissions report found the cost of shifting the power sector to 100 per cent renewables at $8 per week per household.)

The Greens, who had pushed to have funding allocated for the AEMO study, welcomed its conclusions.

It’s “a mentality game changer”, said Senator Christine Milne.

“The next step is even more important as they look at modelling costs,” she said.

“I am concerned to make sure not only that AEMO uses up-to-date cost projections for solar power – which the Chinese and Indians expect to out-compete coal already this decade – but also that they model the transition to 100 per cent renewable as against business-as-usual costs for energy infrastructure.”…..

More crucial for the renewable energy sector, though, may be the release of the government’s review into the Renewable Energy Target (RET), perhaps within weeks.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/carbon-economy/renewables-australias-a-land-of-plenty-20121026-28ai7.html#ixzz2AWk0QCO0