This year is likely to be seen by future historians as the ”tipping point, the beginning of the clean energy era” when the world turned decisively towards renewable energy, according to the chief of Australia’s Climate Commission, Tim Flannery.
Professor Flannery will try to shift debate in Australia so that solar and wind power are increasingly seen as a centrepiece of the nation’s energy mix, starting with a speech today at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia event in Melbourne.
”The global trends we have seen take place this year are not now going to be reversed - it’s like a juggernaut,” he told the Herald.
”We’ve come out of a period where the debate in Australia is very ‘low value’ in terms of renewables, but we are seeing a clear shift now in a way that we’ve never seen before.”
Professor Flannery pointed to Germany’s new energy policy, which sidelines nuclear power in favour of solar and wind energy, rapidly dropping solar panel prices around the world, and India’s embrace of ”distributed” energy networks at the expense of centralised, fossil-fuelled power stations.
Investment in renewable power has increased sixfold since 2004, and for the first time businesses around the world are investing more in renewables than coal, oil and gas, he said, citing data from Bloomberg new energy finance.
”When we try to look forward a decade, with the last decade as our yardstick, what do we imagine our country will be like?” Professor Flannery asks in his speech.
”It’s hard to avoid the idea that solar and wind will be commonplace, and that this will drive a transformation in how we move and use electricity.
”Globally it’s clear that an irreversible trend has set in. Neither India nor Africa will follow the traditional model of economic development, but are likely to base their energy systems on renewables, driving down price and pioneering new ways of using clean power.”
If the Coalition were to form government and repeal Australia’s carbon price after next year’s election, it would not have a significant effect on global trends, Professor Flannery said. ”It will be interesting to see what happens [but] if you look at the big picture, it is hard to imagine the current trend being reversed,” he said.’
Globally, the cost of making solar cells has dropped 75 per cent in the past four years and 45 per cent in the past 12 months. Against this, the federal government’s energy projections suggest big rises in the export of coal and gas, and the energy sector is still dominated by fossil fuels.
Coal, oil and gas still make up 95 per cent of the nation’s energy consumption, according to the latest report by the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism.
According to the Australian Solar Institute, rooftop solar panels reached ”grid parity” in many sunnier regions of Australia, including parts of northern NSW, last year - meaning they are now as cheap or cheaper than coal-fired power.
