A zero-carbon, reliable and affordable energy future in Australia

Australia has one of the highest per capita consumption of energy and emissions of greenhouse gases in the world. It is also the global leader in rapid per capita annual deployment of new solar and wind energy, which is causing the country's emissions to decline. Australia is located at low-moderate latitudes along with three quarters of the world's population. These factors make the Australian experience globally significant. In this study, a fully decarbonised electricity system is modelled together with complete electrification of heating, transport and industry in Australia leading to an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. An energy supply-demand balance is simulated based on long-term (10 years), high-resolution (half-hourly) meteorological and energy demand data. A significant feature of this model is that short-term off-river energy storage and distributed energy storage are utilised to support the large-scale integration of variable solar and wind energy. The results show that high levels of energy reliability and affordability can be effectively achieved through a synergy of flexible energy sources; interconnection of electricity grids over large areas; response from demand-side participation; and mass energy storage. This strategy could be a rapid and generic pathway towards zero-carbon energy futures within the Sunbelt. (c) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

Australia demonstrates high per capita energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, but leads in rapid deployment of solar and wind energy globally. Through modeling decarbonized electricity systems and electrification of various sectors, the country achieves significant reduction in emissions. Utilizing short-term energy storage and demand-side response, as well as large-scale energy grids interconnections, Australia shows a pathway towards reliable and affordable energy with high levels of integration of renewables.