Wind and solar photovoltaics (PV) constitutes nearly all new generation capacity in Australia, and half the world’s annual new generation capacity. The cost of wind and PV continues to fall rapidly, and there is no end in sight to cost reductions. About 8000 megawatts (MW) of new wind and PV will be constructed in Australia over 2017-20, including 2000 MW of roof-mounted PV.
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South Australia already obtains half of its electricity from wind and PV, up from nearly nothing five years ago. Australia is on track to reach 50 per cent renewable electricity by 2030, and possibly much higher (80-90 per cent). Thousands of people are already employed in this industry.
The region between Cooma, Bombala and Jindabyne has excellent wind potential. It already hosts the 113MW Boco Rock windfarm and has the potential to host 400-1000 MW of additional windfarms with a value of $1-2billion.
As more windfarms are built south of Cooma, it becomes necessary to upgrade the power lines to allow export of the wind energy. It is desirable that these expensive powerlines operate near full load most of the time. However, the wind is highly variable. Local storage means that some of the electricity generated during windy periods can be stored, and transmitted the next day when the wind has decreased and the load on the powerlines had eased.
Pumped Hydro Energy Storage (PHES) constitutes 97 per cent of all electricity storage around the world. Water can be pumped through a pipe from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir when it is windy, and later released through a turbine when the energy is needed. The Tumut 3 power station in the Snowy Mountains is Australia’s largest PHES system.
Brown Mountain is an interesting potential PHES site, with a 600-900m head (height difference between the two reservoirs) depending on where the upper reservoir site would be located. A powerline easement already exists for a pipe connecting the two reservoirs. Twin 25ha reservoirs (20m deep) with a head of 600m can generate 250MW of power for 24 hours.
In addition to participating in windfarm development in the tablelands and the construction of local PHES storage, the Far South Coast has an opportunity to achieve electricity-neutrality. In this scenario, enough rooftop PV is constructed so that electricity export equals electricity import on an annual basis. Because electricity from rooftop PV costs about 10c/kWh, which is much cheaper than the cost of retail electricity from the grid, this saves money as well is contributing to large reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, local construction activity and employment.
Computer tools like Google Earth can be used to systematically find all the sites for PV on unshaded roof tops in the region, including homes, schools, commercial buildings and shopping centres. The rise of home batteries, battery electric vehicles and electric-driven heat pumps for water and space heating will contribute to the Far South Coast becoming semiautonomous in respect of energy supply.
Professor Andrew Blakers
Australian National University
