Some highlights from the recent annual Clean Energy Australia report from the CEC.
The Australian renewable energy industry accounted for 35.9 per cent of Australia’s total electricity generation in 2022, up from 32.5 per cent in 2021. This is just over double what was installed before the boom began in 2017 (16.9 per cent), so while there is still a significant way to go if Australia is to meet its ambition of 82 per cent renewables by 2030, there has nevertheless been encouraging progress.
Rooftop solar once again led the charge for Australian renewable energy in terms of capacity added, with 2.7 GW added throughout 2022. Although that figure is down on 3.3 GW from 2021, it still
represents the highest contribution in the renewables sector, and approximately 3.4 million Australian households now have rooftop solar PV systems installed, which is around one in three households. The total number of new rooftop solar installations stood at 310,352, down from 377,408 in 2021. Rooftop solar contributed 25.8 per cent of Australia’s renewable energy generation (up from 24.9 per cent in 2021), the first time it has represented more than a quarter of generation. With 1.4 GW of new capacity added, wind came in second place, also down on its 35.9%
Australia’s electricity generation from renewable sources 2021-2022 figure of 1.7 GW.Despite those figures, wind remains Australia’s most significant renewable generation contributor overall (when rooftop and utility-scale solar are considered separately), providing 35.6 per cent of all renewable generation and 12.8 per cent of Australia’s total energy generation mix. In general, 2022 has not been a bumper year for project development, at least in terms of the number of projects being completed, though the size of projects in terms of capacity and storage is trending upwards. Two new wind farms in Victoria became fully operational in 2022: Stockyard Hill (531 MW) and Moorabool (312 MW). Victoria has been the leading state for wind power generation for some time and continues to lead the way, accounting for around a third (33.7 percent) of Australia’s wind generation.
