Australia’s main electricity market could source all of its electricity from renewable energy with the help of a carbon price of as low as $50 a tonne, according to research at the University of NSW.
The researchers found currently available renewable energy technologies such as wind and concentrated solar thermal power could displace all fossil-fuelled power plants in the National Electricity Market, according to a peer-reviewed paper published in the international Energy Policy journal.
The work used technology costs projected to 2030 by the government’s Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics last year – costs that may prove conservative as prices of solar photovoltaic panels and other renewable sources tumble.
A carbon price of $50-$100 a tonne would make coal and gas-fired power plants uneconomical, depending on varying assumptions, the report said.
“We think wind and solar will be a lot cheaper in 2030 than those projections,” said Mark Diesendorf, an associate professor at the UNSW, and one of the authors of the report, Least cost 100 per cent renewable electricity scenarios in the Australian National Electricity Market.
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