Doubling uptake of wind and solar power could set up Australia for net zero emissions by 2040

Doubling uptake of wind and solar power could set up Australia for net zero emissions by 2040
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Australia could wipe out 80% of its greenhouse gas emissions – all of those from fossil fuel energy – in two decades by doubling the pace at which solar and wind power is being rolled out, academic analysis suggests. The paper by Australian National University engineering researchers found that at the current rate Australia would not reach net zero emissions until well after 2050, the date by which Scott Morrison says he would “preferably” like to get there . Australia installed about seven gigawatts of renewable energy in 2020, continuing a trend in which new clean energy generation roughly equivalent to that produced by a large coal-fired plant is added each year. Andrew Blakers, a professor of engineering, found doubling that annual rate to 14GW could put the country within striking distance of net zero emissions within a couple of decades at limited cost. Outcry at Australia’s coal plant closures misses the point: change is coming Adam Morton Read more Under this calculation, the country would have a near 100% clean electricity grid – backed by stronger long-distance transmission, battery and pumped hydro storage and demand management programs – as well as heating and transport systems that ran on […]

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