Renewable electricity generation in the Australian water industry: Lessons learned and challenges for the future

Concomitant with decarbonising the global economy, the water industry is increasingly subject to ambitious renewable electricity targets. This will be a significant transition, requiring major investments in new technology, new business models, and unprecedented rates of technology rollout. In this work, we seek to elucidate the key barriers and enablers required to facilitate a rapid switch to a future water sector comprising high levels of renewable electricity generation. Specifically, this research investigates i) the evolution of renewable electricity generation in Australian water utilities since 1998, ii) the effect of the grid electricity price and national climate change policies, and iii) the challenges that utilities are facing in achieving renewable energy targets. The study shows that the water industry has increased its on-site renewable electricity generation capacity from 26 MW in 1998 to 90 MW in 2018. Until 2010, the industry focused on recovering the embedded energy in water and wastewater as hydropower and biogas. After exploiting the economically viable embedded energy, the industry subsequently turned to solar PV as an additional source of renewable electricity. Consequently, solar PV has been the main new source of renewable electricity since 2013. The main drivers for this shift were a solar PVcentred feed-in tariff, increases in grid-sourced electricity prices, and falling technology costs. In regard to renewable electricity targets, if the industry relies solely on solar PV to achieve target electricity generation, utilities will have to install 182 MW of solar PV systems across the whole Australian industry to achieve the set targets in time.

Automated summary

This study investigates the evolution of renewable electricity generation in Australian water utilities since 1998, revealing an increasing trend in on-site renewable electricity capacity. The industry transitioned from utilizing embedded energy in water and wastewater to solar PV as the main source of renewable electricity, driven by feed-in tariffs, electricity price increases, and technology cost reductions. The research suggests that achieving renewable electricity targets will require significant investment in solar PV systems across the Australian water industry.