Australia, and especially Western Australia, is blesed with an abundance of renewable energy potential. From the sunbaked interiors of our state, windswept coastline and emerging hot rock or geothermal discoveries. Renewable Energy is the way of the future and the solution to powering our communities and combatting climate change. A suite of renewable energy solutions including solar, wind, wave and geothermal is more than able to meet our energy demands if we start to live in work in an energy wise society.
Renewable Energy Solution.
Multiple scientific studies have proven tapping a combination of clean, renewable energy sources, andimproving energy efficiency and conservation will tackle climate change and strengthen our economy.
With renewable energy we can rapidly phase out coal, and other polluting sources of electricity.
The Greenpeace International Energy [R]evolution report shows us how we can use existing technologies to halve our CO2 emissions by 2050, with an increase in energy consumption!
What are some of these solutions you ask!?
Solar Photovoltaic
Solar Photovoltaic (PV) cells convert solar energy direct to electricity. Solar PV is currently most suitable to smaller operations including house and office use.
If 1.5 KW solar panels were installed on just a quarter of the WA homes currently supplied by Synergy, 230 MW of peak electricity capacity would be created – comparable to a typical WA coal-fired power station.1
Solar Thermal
Solar thermal/concentrated solar power uses mirrors to concentrate the sun’s thermal energy, heating water, oil or molten salt, which is used to make steam for powering an electrical generator. Solar thermal technologies include the parabolic trough, power tower/heliostat reflectors and linear fresnel reflectors. Storage technology, currently operating at small scales, enables thermal energy to provide ‘baseload’ or ‘dispatchable’ power.
It is estimated that all electricity demand on the South West Integrated Systme (SWIS) could be supplied by just 200 sq km (14 km by 14 km) of solar thermal collectors in sunny, clear-sky areas.
Wind Power
Western Australia has a plentiful supply of windy coastlines and offshore areas that would power us well into the future with wind farms. Approximately 500,000 sq km in WA’s South-West that have average wind speeds above six metres per second at a height of 60 metres. Just 2,500 sq km (50 km x 50 km) in this area would provide the equivalent energy of the SWIS at its peak demand, continuously.
"The total theoretical potential for onshore wind power for the world is around 55 TW with a practical potential of at least 2 TW (2004), which is about 2/3 of the entire present (2007) worldwide generating capacity. The offshore wind energy capacity is even greater." [1]
Geothermal
Australia has extensive hot granites and other geological formations suitable for generation electricity.
Geothermal power is already being used globally to heat building and create electricity. Here in Perth it is being used to heat swimming facilities, while The University of Western Australia is planning to convert its air-conditioning system to geothermal.
Geodynamics Australia is demonstrating the use of deeper ‘hot rocks’ 3–5 km under ground at the Cooper Basin in South Australis. Geothermal electricity is produced by hydraulically 'fracking' the rock then water is pumped down and circulated repeatedly, transferring heat to the surface with each circulation.
Geodynamics Australia estimates that geothermal energy could provide all of Australia’s electricity needs for 22,000 years.[2] In the Cooper Basin, the Habanero field alone could produce 10,000 MW of base-load power, equivalent to the SWIS peak demand nearly three times over. Exploration of WA’s hot granite rocks is in the early stages.
1.(sen.org.au)
2. Blakers, A.W. "Solar and Wind Electricity in Australia". Australian Journal of Environmental Management. 7, 2000, 223-236.
3. Geodynamics Australia
