The Australian Power Generation Technology study

More than 30 Australian utility and energy providers, industry, research and environmental organisations and governments have agreed to support an independent study on the costs and performance of current power-generation technologies.

The Australian Power Generation Technology study will cost commercially available and emerging technologies — including their emissions intensity, technical efficiencies and water use — looking out to 2030. The technologies will include fossil fuels, direct injection carbon, solar thermal and solar PV, onshore wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, nuclear, biomass and energy storage technologies.

“For Australia to make the most of technologies that modernise and decarbonise the electricity sector, we need to understand how they are developing,” said The Climate Institute’s deputy CEO, Erwin Jackson.

“Governments and power professionals need current and high-quality data on power generation technologies in order to make informed decisions about the changing energy sector,” added CO2CRC CEO Tania Constable.

The study is being led by a steering committee comprising CO2CRC; CSIRO; the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA); the Office of the Chief Economist at the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science; and Australian National Low Emissions Coal Research & Development (ANLEC R&D). It is being undertaken by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), WorleyParsons and Ernst & Young, and peer reviewed by the Australian Government Bureau of Resource Research Economics.

Due to be published in November 2015, the publicly available study will not be designed to comment on policy options. As noted by CSIRO’s executive director, Energy and Resources, Dr Alex Wonhas, “The value of this report will be its credibility, independence and transparency.”