According to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), who are responsible for ensuring residential, business and industrial customers can access secure, reliable energy; renewable energy is driving down the wholesale cost of energy, setting new records for minimum demand for electricity from the grid and reducing emissions to record lows. These positive trends have coincided with a reduction in coal-fired generation in Victoria, NSW and Queensland.

“What we’re seeing is less reliance on expensive, polluting fossil fuels, and another big jump in the share of clean, affordable renewables powering Australia,” said Dr Carl Tidemann, Climate Council Senior Researcher.

“Every step we take towards a grid powered by 100 percent renewable electricity is a step towards lower power bills for Australians, less harmful carbon pollution and more control over our own energy.”

“That’s why it’s so important we continue to ramp up the rollout of more renewable energy, backed by storage.”  

This increased renewable electricity production is encouraging. However, Australia suffers from a grid with weak areas and renewable power sources located in some of these weak areas, leading experts to recommend investment in energy management infrastructure to keep the system stable. AEMO has highlighted that critical investments are needed to enable transmission of low-cost, low emission renewable energy to users.

Based on the insights from AEMO’s latest Quarterly Energy Dynamics report, AEMO CEO, Daniel Westerman said, “constraints are affecting output from regions like Victoria’s Murray River Renewable Energy Zone – that is why we need investment in new transmission.”

He said the report highlighted the need for more investment in new transmission and firming technology to connect the new locations of wind and solar farms, and to even out the variable nature of renewable generation.

In the 2022-2023 budget, the Government outlined financial commitments to invest in modernising and expanding electricity grids as well as the deployment of community batteries. Implementation of these efforts will be needed to keep up with growing consumer action to support emission reductions. One such project was recently launched by Planet Ark Power at IKEA Adelaide with Australia’s largest urban commercial microgrid. The commercial-scale, rooftop solar-powered microgrid is already helping stabilise the South Australian electricity network, while freeing up enough electricity from the State’s electricity network to power 370 homes a year.

Residential buildings are responsible for around 24 per cent of overall electricity use and 12 per cent of total carbon emissions in Australia and consumers are keen to see that lowered. You only need to look at our world leading adoption of rooftop solar PV and growth in electric vehicle sales to see evidence of the commitment to change in the community.

Most encouraging is a pilot program being led by inventor and scientist Saul Griffiths. He’s working with neighbours and community members residing in postal code 2515 in coastal NSW to gain support and funding for local households to electrify their homes.

As co-founder of Rewiring Australia, Dr Griffiths has met with government to gain broader financial support to electrify Australia with early success. The government announced in the 2023-2024 budget, $1 billion of low interest loans for home owners as well as a tax break for small businesses investing into electrification and energy efficiency. 

The increasing levels of renewable power being used for energy generation and the growing push for electrification in homes and businesses in Australia are cause for excitement. Renewable energy is clean, sustainable, cost-effective, and has the potential to create new jobs and stimulate economic growth.

By embracing renewable energy, Australians can take an active role in reducing our carbon footprint, contribute to global efforts to combat climate change, and become a leader in this field. With more investment to upgrade Australia’s grid technology, even higher renewable energy production could be just around the corner.

What steps can you take to help reduce energy consumption at home:

1.     Investigate installing ceiling batts if these aren’t already in your roof.

2.     Improve the energy efficiency of your home by plugging drafts and gaps that is dissipating heat.

3.     Calculate how much you can save moving away from using gas.

4.     Encourage your neighbours to electrify. Electrify 2515 has tips on doing this at a neighbourhood level.

Planet Ark does not take responsibility for the accuracy of the original information and encourages readers to check the references before using this information for their own purposes