Renewable Energy Capacity Set to Surpass Original RET

A new research from Green Energy Markets found that renewable energy capacity of Australia is about to exceed a target that the Federal Government deemed impossible to attain by 2020.
In the GEM’s quarterly Renewable Energy Index, the cost of renewable energy in 2020 is set to surpass the original 41,000-gigawatt-hour (GWh) Renewable Energy Target (RET) that was set before being junked in 2015 by the federal government under former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
On its website, ABC News published an article stating that the original RET was established to aid Australia in achieving its 2030 climate change commitment to lessen emissions by 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels.
After the Abbott government, the original RET was replaced by a new target of 33,000 GWh citing that the previous target was impossible to achieve.
The article reported, “The GEM study – funded by activist group GetUp – found estimated eligible generation would hit 41,381 GWh by 2020, not only exceeding the current RET but the original RET as well.”
Tristan Edis, Director at Green Energy Markets, said, “The Coalition’s argument that we cannot go any further than the target they’ve proposed without imposing some kind of huge economic shock and threat to reliability is obviously not true because we’re pretty much already there.”
“[Energy and Environment Minister] Josh Frydenberg himself is saying that all the extra renewable energy that is about to enter the system will substantially push down power prices,” he added.
Edis also stated that the National Energy Guarantee would “in effect deliver no meaningful emission reduction benefit.” This is because projects that are already under construction and contracted surpass what is required to attain its existing emission targets.
“According to economic modeling undertaken by Frontier Economics for the Energy Security Board, from 2017 onwards we’d need to install 9,271 megawatts (MW) of wind and solar in the National Electricity Market (NEM) to achieve the Government’s 2030 emission reduction target,” Edis added.
For the full report, visit this website.