Solar overtakes wind power as Australia's top source of renewable energy
Solar photovoltaic (PV) overtook wind power to become Australia’s largest source of renewable energy in 2014 following a surge in the solar PV market, according to a report released by research and consulting firm GlobalData.
Solar had a cumulative installed capacity of 4 GW, edging out wind power which totalled 3.8 GW.
GlobalData’s Asia-Pacific Renewable Energy Policy Handbook 2015 report states that renewables has become an integral part of Australia’s energy policy, with the government introducing policy instruments and efforts to attract investment in research and development as well as new projects.
The report provides details of policy measures and incentives used by the countries in the Asia-Pacific to promote renewable energy for the specific technologies of solar, wind, geothermal, hydro and bioenergy.
Siddhartha Raina, GlobalData’s senior analyst covering Power, said growth in Australia’s solar PV market has been a recent development and is largely due to policy support from the government, which has often included financial incentives.
“The government recently announced the revised Renewable Energy Target (RET) to support emission-intensive industries and slightly reduced the RET from 41 to 33 TW,” said Raina.
“Despite this, new renewable energy capacity of 6 GW still needs to be installed by 2020.”
GlobalData’s report also states that while solar and wind power will remain key contributors to Australia’s renewable energy mix, bioenergy is set to become increasingly important.
“While feed-in tariffs and renewable energy target schemes, along with other subsidies and support initiatives, have had a major impact on the solar PV and wind industries, the impact of such programs on biopower and small hydro has been minimal,” said Raina.
“Despite this, strong government backing is expected to promote stable growth in the bioenergy sector. Bioenergy capacity amounted to 573.9 MW in 2014 and is expected to more than treble to 1.8 GW by the end of 2025.”
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