Reliability of 100 % Renewable Electricity Supply in the Australian National Electricity Market

Abstract

Australia has one of the highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions of industrialised countries, resulting mainly from its high dependence upon coal for electricity generation. To explore technological options for the transition to a renewable energy future, we have developed computer simulations for 100 % renewable generation to meet hour-by-hour electricity demand in the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM) for the year 2010. Hourly generation from wind and solar is simulated using meteorological records. Almost all supply is provided by various mixes of wind, solar photovoltaics (PV), existing hydro and concentrating solar thermal (CST) with thermal storage. The remaining infrequent brief gaps in wind and solar generation are filled by low-cost open-cycle gas turbine plants running on biofuels. This chapter reviews briefly our body of simulation research published to date and then reports the results of new work on increasing the geographic distribution of wind farms. The 100 % renewable energy mixes are found to be technically feasible, affordable and meet the NEM generation reliability standard. There is no need for any base-load power stations in the system. Increasing the geographic distribution of wind farms reduces the need to operate the gas turbines. This research is relevant to other regions with a high potential for CST, such as south-west USA, North Africa, the Middle East, north-west China and north-west India.