Renewable energy in Australia

Australia's renewable energy industries are diverse covering numerous energy sources and scales of operation. They currently make a limited contribution to Australia's total energy supply and represent about 5.9% of the total. The major area where renewable energy is set to grow is in electricity generation following the introduction of the Australian Government's Mandatory Renewable Energy Target.[1]

Wind power in South Australia

Wind power in South Australia is a growing industry with 388MW of grid-connected wind farms installed at the end of 2006. South Australia is well suited to wind farms and more wind power is generated in South Australia than any other Australian state or territory. Major wind farms are:

• Wattle Point Wind Farm (91MW)
• Lake Bonney Stage 1 (80.5MW)
• Mount Millar Wind Farm (70MW)
• Cathedral Rocks Wind Farm (66MW)
• Canunda Wind Farm (48MW)
• Starfish Hill Wind Farm (34.5MW)

A further 254 MW of generating capacity (Hallett Wind Farm, 95MW, and Lake Bonney Stage 2,159MW) is under construction, and construction of another 90 MW ( Snowtown Wind Farm) is due to begin in April 2007.

Solar power station in Victoria

A large new Solar power station in Victoria is planned. Solar Systems (company) has announced a world-leading 154MW photovoltaic (PV) heliostat solar concentrator power station for north-western Victoria. The A$420 million project will generate 270,000 MWh per year, enough for more than 45,000 homes. It will aid in reducing salinity and create jobs during manufacture, construction and operation. It will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 400,000 tonnes per year.[2] Full commissioning is expected in 2013, with the first stage to be completed in 2010.[3]

The "CS500" dish concentrator PV unit design has 112 curved reflecting mirrors mounted on a steel frame, which tracks the sun throughout the day. The combination of mirror profile, mounting framework and solar receiver will deliver concentrated sunlight energy to each PV module. The tracking mechanism allows electricity to be produced whenever the sun is more than 5° above the horizon. Direct current electricity from the receivers is passed through an electronic inverter that produces grid-quality alternating current electricity. Transformers step up the voltage to the requirement of the local network at the point of connection. [4]

New photovoltaic technology

SLIVER Cell (TM) photovoltaic technology uses just one tenth of the costly silicon used in conventional solar panels while matching power, performance, and efficiency. [5] Professor Andrew Blakers, Director of the Australian National University Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, invented the technology with colleague Dr Klaus Weber and developed it with funding from energy supplier Origin Energy and the Australian Research Council. Blakers and Weber won the Australian Institute of Physics' Walsh Medal for their work. [6] Origin Energy is now making pre-production SLIVER modules at its A$20M pilot plant in Regency Park, South Australia. 75W modules will be released soon with production already committed.[7]

See also

• Martin Green
• Origin Energy
• Wind power in Australia
• Solar power in Australia
• Solar Systems (company)

External links

• Renewable energy commercialisation in Australia
• Renewable energy in Australia -- Goevernment programmes