ARTICLES
New Coal doesn’t Stack Up – just look at Queensland’s
Renewable Energy Numbers
By Matthew Stocks and Andrew Blakers
Worldwide, solar PV and wind generation now account for 60%
of global net new power capacity, far exceeding the net rate of
fossil fuel installation.
As the graph below shows, medium to large (at least 100
kilowatts) renewable energy projects have been growing strongly
in Australia since 2017. Before that, there was a slowdown due to
the policy uncertainty around the Renewable Energy Target, but
wind and large scale solar are now being installed at record rates
and are expected to grow further.
As the name suggests, Windy Hill near Cairns gets its fair share
of power-generating weather
As the Federal government aimed to ink a deal with the states
on the National Energy Guarantee in August, it was apparently
still negotiating within its own ranks. The Federal energy minister,
Josh Frydenberg, reportedly told his party-room colleagues that
he would favour a new coal-fired power plant, while his former
colleague (and now Queensland Resources Council Chief
Executive), Ian Macfarlane, urged the government to consider
offering industry incentives for so-called ‘clean coal’.
Renewable energy projects expected to be delivered before
2020. Clean Energy Regulator
In the previous month it emerged that One Nation had demanded
for a new coal-fired power plant in north Queensland in return for
supporting the government’s business tax reforms.
Is all this pro-coal jockeying actually necessary for our energy or
economic future? Our analysis suggests that renewable energy
is a much better choice, in terms of both costs and jobs.
Renewables and jobs
Virtually all new generation being constructed in Australia now is
solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind energy. New-build coal power
is estimated to cost A$70-90 per megawatt-hour, increasing to
more than A$140 per MWh with carbon capture and storage.
Left-axis Block colours_renewable energy employment by
generation type in Australia
Solar PV and wind are now cheaper than new-build coal power
plants, even without carbon capture and storage. Unsubsidised
contracts for wind projects in Australia have recently been signed
for less than A$55 per MWh, and PV electricity is being produced
from very large-scale plants at A$30-50 per MWh around the
world.
As the graph also shows, this has been accompanied by a very
rapid increase in employment in the renewables sector, with
roughly 4,000 people employed constructing and operating wind
and solar farms in 2016-17. By contrast, employment in biomass
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SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL NEWS VOL 67 NO 3