Australia Reached 50% Of Power Demand With Solar

March'19

Depending on the deployment location and competing energy prices, photovoltaic solar panels are among the most cost-effective power solutions being added to the grid today, often without subsidies and other incentives.

The revelation came during a panel discussion—which included several CEOs from the power sector—that took place at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Summit in New York on March 25. However, integrating high levels of solar power can be challenging for grid operators.

Case Study: Australia

Amy Grace, head of Cleantech Research with BNEF, moderated the session. She noted that Austrailia has experience rapid growth in Solar power over the past 10 years, with about one in five homes now having solar panels installed.

“We did a study last year that shows that going forward the cheapest thing to do for Australia is going to be wind, solar, storage, and some gas,” said Audrey Zibelman, CEO and managing director of the Australian Energy Operator, which is responsible for operating Australia’s largest gas and electricity markets and power systems.

Lynn Good, CEO of Duke Energy, seemed to agree. “We’re continuing progress toward clean energy. For Duke that means renewables, that means battery technology, and that means natural gas,” Good said.

Zibelman, who previously chaired the New York State Public Service Commission and is a former executive vice president and chief operating officer of the PJM Interconnection, said Australia has become a major exporter of natural gas. “We’ll be the largest exporter of natural gas in the next five years,” she said. The country is also a major exporter of coal. As a result, prices have been driven up for both commodities. That has given renewable energy a competitive advantage.

“In Australia, we’re adding six solar panels every minute on roofs,” Zibelman said. She noted that in Western Australia, which has an average power demand of 2,000 MW, there is 1,000 MW of rooftop solar installed. “So, every time there’s cloud cover coming over, our voltage drops significantly,” she said.

Lessons Learned

Zibelman suggested the U.S. could learn some lessons from Australia’s experience. For one, she said environmental and energy policies need to be integrated. “You can’t really make this transition unless your emissions goals are also integrated into your energy reliability requirements.”

The second lesson is that good planning is needed. “The power system we developed in the last century isn’t really the power system we’re going to need for high levels of renewables. So, the kind of investments we’re going to need are very different,” said Zibelman.

Good suggested continued dialog stakeholders, regulators, legislators, and customers was needed, because “often the conversation wants to go into a single direction, ‘Let’s put more renewables on the system,’ and we need to broaden that conversation to ‘How are we going to accommodate more renewables within an energy system that still maintains affordability and reliability?’ ” she said.