Some good news: “In Australia, renewable energy is growing at a per capita rate ten times faster than the world average. Between 2018 and 2020, Australia will install more than 16 gigawatts of wind and solar, an average rate of 220 watts per person per year. This is nearly three times faster than the next fastest country, Germany. Australia is demonstrating to the world how rapidly an industrialised country with a fossil-fuel-dominated electricity system can transition towards low-carbon, renewable power generation. … Last was a record year for renewable energy installations, with 5.1 gigawatts (GW) accredited in 2018, far exceeding the previous record of 2.2GW in 2017. The increase was driven by the dramatic rise of large-scale solar farms… This year is on track to be another record year, with 6.5GW projected to be complete by the end of 2019. The increase is largely attributable to a significant increase in the number of wind farms approaching completion.” Maintaining this pace will require governments to invest in transmission infrastructure. (On the other side of the ledger, we need to stop digging up coal; it doesn’t matter whether we burn it ourselves or export it to be burned elsewhere, it should stay in the ground.)
25 September 2019