Phillip Riley

ARENA Boss Says 700% Renewables is Attainable for Australia

Despite Energy Minister Angus Taylor’s claim that Australia has too much wind and solar in the network, private researchers found it could even aim for 200 percent renewables.
However, there are also reports that 700 percent renewables, or approximately 700 gigawatts of wind and solar, can be attained by the end of 2020.

ARENA and Low-Cost Electricity

This is the estimate that Chief Scientist Alan Finkel could announce in his upcoming National Hydrogen Strategy, which also gained support from the CEO of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) Darren Miller. In this, hydrogen is one of the major investment themes for its remaining funds, together with grid integration and incorporating renewables into industrial processes.
In an interview with the Energy Insiders podcast of RenewEconomy, Miller expressed, “The key to input into renewable hydrogen is low-cost electricity. With solar and wind prices being so low and still going down, we can see a pathway to very low-cost electricity.”
He added, “If we try to make of hydrogen the same kind of opportunity as we have now for LNG, we probably need 700 gigawatts of wind and solar to produce that amount of hydrogen. We will have a giant system, where cheap electricity is just a bi-product of that system.”

Hydrogen Remote Power

Miller further stated that ARENA is also focusing on hydrogen remote power, where it can beat the resent diesel that costs up to $400 per megawatt-hour. They are just waiting for someone to take the plunge and utilize hydrogen as a balancing fuel.
ARENA may use the remaining $280 million by the end of next year and the organization will be managing projects and assist in knowledge sharing.
He also gave an insight stating that the South Australian government might choose a pumped hydro project by the end of the year. $40 million will be given to the best-place project.
For more news and job updates on the renewable energy sector in Australia, visit www.phillipriley.com.au.

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