The latest edition of the Clean Energy Australia Report, released today, reveals that the Australian renewable energy industry commenced construction on over 5000 MW of large-scale wind and solar farms in 2022 – the highest year for new renewable construction commitments on record.
Investors are also responding to the need for more energy storage, with 19 large-scale battery projects under construction, with combined capacity of those projects (1380 MW/2004 MWh) significantly higher than the previous year (921 MW/1169 MWh).
Renewable energy accounted for 35.9 per cent of Australia’s total electricity generation in 2022, up from 32.5 per cent in 2021. Australia has more than doubled the amount of renewable energy since 2017 when renewable energy accounted for just 16.9 per cent of generation.
“There’s significant cause for optimism at a time when ageing fossil fuel-based generators are retiring,” said Clean Energy Council Chief Executive, Kane Thornton.
“Large-scale clean energy investment reached $6.2 billion in 2022, a 17 per cent increase from 2021. The final quarter of 2022 saw investment in financially committed large-scale generation and storage projects reach $4.29 billion, the second-highest quarterly result since data collection began in 2017.
“Australia’s energy mix will undoubtedly now be the beneficiary of greater policy clarity, with climate change and the clean energy transition areas of genuine focus federally, with sensible and ambitious policies. However, we cannot take the sustained growth of renewable energy for granted,” said Thornton.
“To reach the Federal Government’s renewable energy generation target of 82 per cent by 2030, the pace of deployment for new large-scale projects needs to at least double.”
Key stats from the Clean Energy Australia 2023 Report:
ENDS
For more information or to arrange an interview, contact:
Jane Aubrey
Clean Energy Council Public Affairs Manager
[email protected]
+61 409 470 683