The Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) today released a 2016 Electricity Statement of Opportunities (ESOO) report, which highlights the importance of a long-term strategic plan to ensure a low-cost and reliable energy system in the future.
The 2016 ESOO provides National Electricity Market (NEM) participants, investors, and policy-makers with a projected 10-year outlook to 2025-26 of supply adequacy under a number of scenarios, and this year further generation withdrawals have been modelled in response to the COP21 emission abatement commitment, AEMO said.
Clean Energy Council (CEC) Chief Executive Kane Thornton said: “As the report title suggests, the analysis is aimed at investors and identifies opportunities for investment which can help to address these issues. Fortunately there are a whole range of new investments and solutions under development, including battery storage – which is rapidly coming down in cost – stronger interconnection between the different regions of the National Electricity Market and a range of reforms that are now a priority in order to better integrate renewable energy into the energy system.
“Australia’s electricity system has changed more in the last 10 years than it did in the century before that. It is obvious that much more change is coming in the years ahead, particularly given the majority of our existing coal-fired generation is older than its planned operating life. Modernisation of our energy system is inevitable.”
Thornton said that this transformation could be better managed with a strong acknowledgement that Australia is heading towards a zero-carbon energy system and genuine engagement in the reforms necessary to achieve that energy future.
Australia, which has no offshore wind farms, recently started contemplating on using this renewable energy source. In November 2015, Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt said the country will look into developing offshore wind power. A month later, it was reported that the CEFC’s new investment mandate will include wind power, with special focus on offshore wind energy.
The new focus on wind energy marks a major shift in Australian government’s energy policy, since the previous government, led by Tony Abbott, had banned investment in new wind power projects.