From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

Rooftop solar / battery installations were the exception. Perhaps Aussie households are preparing for the coming grid failure?

Australian renewable sector recorded ‘alarming’ slowdown in 2023, energy body finds

Peter Hannam Wed 13 Mar 2024 01.00 AEDT

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Investments in renewable energy plants showed an “alarming” slowdown in 2023, with financial approvals for new solar farms shrinking more than a third while no new windfarms won backing, the Clean Energy Council said in its annual report.

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“There were no new financial commitments to utility-scale wind projects in 2023 (compared to six in 2022) – a disheartening situation that needs to be addressed,” the council said. The seven new solar projects with 912 megawatts of capacity last year was down from the 1.5GW in 10 solar farms in 2022.

On a rolling 12-month average, investment in the December quarter sank to the lowest level since the council began gathering data in 2017, dipping below $1bn.

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Slow approvals, though, including in states such as New South Wales, mean the decade-end target of supplying 82% of electricity by renewables will be challenging, Green Energy Markets said in a recent report.

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By comparison, grid solar was 18% higher than in January-February 2023, while wind generation was up 5%. Rooftop solar output increased 10%.

…Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/13/australian-renewable-sector-recorded-alarming-slowdown-in-2023-energy-body-finds

I have a friend in sunny Queensland, the same latitude as Miami, who has invested in a state of the art rooftop solar / battery combination. His rooftop solar is good for keeping the refrigerators and freezers running, running the lights and keeping the TV and computers working, but it doesn’t generate enough power to run home cooling or heating.

Of course, some power is better than no power.

This political and leadership failure is sending a dreadful signal to what remains of Australian jobs and industry. If they invest in their own generation capacity, they risk getting slapped with a carbon tax. But the grid is rapidly deteriorating towards third world levels of reliability. Option “C”, pack up and relocate their factory and facilities to somewhere with sane energy policy, must be an increasingly attractive proposition.