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Clean Energy Council - Large-scale solar PV

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As one of the sunniest countries on the planet, Australia is ideally placed to include large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) power as a major part of its energy mix.

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Solar energy is energy created by the heat and light of the sun. Solar power is produced when this energy is converted into electricity or used to heat air, water, or other substances.

Australia has the highest average solar radiation per square metre of any continent in the world. Large-scale solar electricity is rapidly expanding in Australia. More than two million Australian households currently have a solar system on their rooftop.

ARENA's funded solar projects have helped to break at least 11 solar cell efficiency world records. Thanks in part to ARENA's efforts, the large-scale solar sector is now on the cusp of cost parity with wind energy, up to five years ahead of schedule. And there are still more exciting and beneficial changes to come.

There are currently two main types of solar energy technology:

Solar photovoltaic

This technology converts sunlight directly into electricity using photovoltaic (PV) cells. The solar PV cells are combined in panels. They can be put on rooftops, integrated into building designs and vehicles, or installed by the thousands across fields to create large-scale solar power plants.

Concentrating solar PV uses fields of sun-tracking mirrors called heliostats to concentrate sunlight onto highly efficient PV cells located inside a receiver at the top of a mast or tower.

Solar thermal

This technology converts sunlight into thermal energy (or heat), which in the past has been used mainly for space heating or to heat water (such as in a solar hot water system).

This heat energy can be used to drive a refrigeration cycle to provide solar-based cooling, or to make steam that can be used to generate electricity using a steam turbine. Solar thermal energy can also be used in some industrial processes that currently use gas to produce heat.

Concentrating solar thermal technology harvests the sun's heat to produce efficient, large-scale power generation. It uses a field of mirrors to reflect sunlight onto a thermal receiver, which transfers the heat to a thermal energy storage system. Energy can then be released from storage as required, day and night.

Emerging solar energy technologies

continues to improve existing solar energy technologies while identifying emerging innovations such as photosynthetic-based solar energy technologies and solar enhanced fuels. Research and development

Innovations and developments in solar energy technology and enhanced fuels will benefit everyone by making affordable and reliable energy more accessible to more Australian businesses and households.

Take a look at our solar energy projects.

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Solar energy - Australian Renewable Energy Agency

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Australia has the highest average solar radiation per square metre of any continent in the world. Large-scale solar electricity is rapidly expanding in Australia. More than two million Australian households currently have a solar system on their rooftop. ARENA's funded solar projects have helped to break at least 11 solar cell efficiency world records.

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Hydroelectricity (also known as 'hydro') is a well-developed renewable energy technology that has been around for more than a century.

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Bioenergy involves efficiently extracting considerable quantities of clean, low-emission electricity from waste.

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Geothermal energy uses the earth's natural internal heat to generate electricity and heating. Geothermal energy may be stored in granite rocks (often called 'hot rocks') or trapped in liquids such as water and brine (hydrothermal process).

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Bioenergy is derived from biomass to generate electricity and heat, or to produce liquid fuels for transport. Biomass is any organic matter of recently living plant or animal origin. It is available in many forms such as agricultural products, forestry products, municipal and other waste.

Traditionally, woody biomass has been used for bioenergy, however more recent technologies have expanded the potential resources to include agricultural residues, oil seeds and algae.

These advanced bioenergy technologies allow for the sustainable development of the bioenergy industry, without competing with the traditional agricultural industry for land and resources.

Bioenergy offers the potential for considerable economic benefits, including:

increasing Australia's energy security

reducing greenhouse gas emissions

stimulating regional development

Here is just a sample of what our bioenergy projects are achieving. The University of Melbourne has developed technology that produces biodiesel from microalgal biomass. This cost effective conversion of the inedible plant material into liquid fuels could reduce Australia's reliance on fuel imports as well as reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the transport industry. Other projects have also tested or trialled new processing and electricity production in waste water treatments.

How is bioenergy used in Australia?

Some bioenergy technologies are well established in Australia and are currently in commercial use. Bioenergy currently accounts for nearly 1% of Australia's electricity production, and 7% of renewable electricity production. Biofuels account for approximately 1-3% of Australia's fuel consumption. There is great potential in this renewable energy source.

Australia's bioenergy industry currently uses a range of biomass resources including:

bagasse, which remains after sugar has been extracted from sugarcane

landfill gas

wood waste and black liquor

energy crops

agricultural products

municipal solid waste.

The majority of Australia's current bioenergy capacity is derived from bagasse co-generation.

Australia is well placed to develop a sustainable and competitive bioenergy industry thanks to our:

abundance of sunlight, flat land and a climate suitable for growing dedicated energy crops

world-class expertise in agricultural science

strength in natural resources and infrastructure industry development.

Take a look at our bioenergy projects.

The kinds of bioenergy projects that we fund

Bioenergy

Demonstration activities that involve bioenergy electricity and heat to meet specific local demand, improvements to feedstock management, or the purification of biogas.

Biofuels

Demonstration activities that involve biofuels to meet specific demand, improvements to feedstock management, or the processing of biofuels into refined drop-in fuels.

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Bioenergy - Australian Renewable Energy Agency

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Traditionally, woody biomass has been used for bioenergy, however more recent technologies have expanded the potential resources to include agricultural residues, oil seeds and algae. These advanced bioenergy technologies allow for the sustainable development of the bioenergy industry, without competing with the traditional agricultural industry for land and resources.

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Wind power is currently the cheapest source of large-scale renewable energy. It involves generating electricity from the naturally occurring power of the wind.

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Wind power is generated by converting the kinetic energy of the atmosphere into useable electricity with wind turbines.

Wind is generated by complex mechanisms involving the rotation of the Earth, the heat of the sun, the cooling effect of the oceans and polar ice caps, temperature gradients between land and sea, and the physical effects of mountains and other obstacles.

Wind turbines convert the force of the wind into a torque (rotational force), which is then used to propel an electric generator to create electricity. Wind energy power stations (known as wind farms) commonly draw on the output of multiple wind turbines through a central connection point to the electricity grid. Across the world there are both on-shore (on land) and offshore (out to sea) wind energy projects.

How is wind energy used in Australia?

In Australia, wind energy is primarily used for electricity generation. Through the use of small windmills, wind energy has also been used to pump bore water, particularly in rural areas.

Australia has some of the world's best wind resources in its south-western, southern and south-eastern regions.

There is good access to available on-shore wind resources and there are currently no known plans to develop offshore wind projects in Australia.

Wind energy is the fastest growing renewable energy source for electricity generation in Australia, and its current share of total Australian primary energy consumption is currently 4.9%.

ARENA wind energy projects

ARENA has a small number of projects that involve wind energy, which are focused on hybridising wind energy with diesel systems. Several of our large-scale solar projects involve co-location with wind farms.

In light of wind energy's wide use across Australia and globally, and access to institutional project finance, ARENA does not support stand-alone wind energy proposals. We may consider support for new technologies or approaches that reduce the costs of wind energy or improve reliability by reducing balance of plant cost, overcoming grid integration challenges, and social licence.

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Wind Energy - Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)

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Wind is generated by complex mechanisms involving the rotation of the Earth, the heat of the sun, the cooling effect of the oceans and polar ice caps, temperature gradients between land and sea, and the physical effects of mountains and other obstacles.

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Geodynamics, presented by the Australian Geothermal Energy Association (AGEA). http://www.agea.org.au

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Geothermal energy is stored as heat in the earth.

The heat is generated by the natural decay over millions of years of radiogenic elements including uranium, thorium and potassium.

Geothermal energy can be drawn from the hot water circulating among rocks below the earth's surface, or by pumping cold water into the hot rocks and returning the heated water to the surface. This can drive steam turbines to produce electricity.

Geothermal energy holds the promise of being a renewable energy source that could operate 24 hours a day, providing baseload power for Australian homes and industries. Geothermal energy can be used for heating and cooling purposes. There are a number of buildings, residential homes and swimming pools that currently use geothermal for these purposes. Australia has considerable geothermal energy potential.

Here is just a sample of what our geothermal projects are achieving. National ICT Australia and its partners are developing software and analysing geothermal data to help find the best geothermal energy sites while also causing a minimum impact to the environment.

How is geothermal energy used in Australia?

In Australia, two types of geothermal projects are being developed:

enhanced geothermal systems (EGS or hot rocks)

hot sedimentary aquifers (HSA).

Most current geothermal projects in Australia are still at proof-of-concept or early demonstration stage. Direct use technologies are at a more advanced stage of innovation and the opportunities lie in improving project economics and reducing upfront costs.

Take a look at our geothermal projects.

ARENA International Geothermal Expert Group

The ARENA International Geothermal Expert Group was established to investigate and report on the prospects for the commercial development of geothermal energy in Australia. The Expert Group reported its findings to the ARENA Board in July 2014.

The Expert Group has evaluated the prospects for either Enhanced Geothermal Systems or Hot Sedimentary Aquifer geothermal energy to deliver cost competitive energy to Australia without long-term subsidy.

The report provided options to the ARENA Board on how it may wish to allocate and prioritise its funding for geothermal energy as part of its portfolio approach to supporting renewable energy in Australia.

Read the International Geothermal Expert Group's report.

The kinds of geothermal projects we fund

Research and development activities focused on techniques for finding geothermal resources without drilling, or technologies for increasing the flow rate from geothermal wells. Research and Development Program only.

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Geothermal Energy - Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)

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The heat is generated by the natural decay over millions of years of radiogenic elements including uranium, thorium and potassium. Geothermal energy can be drawn from the hot water circulating among rocks below the earth's surface, or by pumping cold water into the hot rocks and returning the heated water to the surface.

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Hydropower is generated when falling water is channeled through water turbines. The pressure of the flowing water on turbine blades rotates a shaft and drives an electrical generator, converting the motion into electrical energy.

Hydropower is the most advanced and mature renewable energy technology, and provides some level of electricity generation in more than 160 countries worldwide.

Hydropower plants range from very small to very large individual plants and vast integrated schemes involving multiple large hydropower plants.

Our key hydropower project provided knowledge to improve the design and operation of small hydro systems, where much of the potential expansion of hydropower production exists. The impact of this project has gone world-wide, attracting interest from the United States, Indonesia and the Mekong.

How is hydropower used in Australia?

In 2013, Australia had over 120 operating hydroelectric power stations, with a total generation of almost 20 GWh or 8% of total energy generated.

In the future there may be some growth in use of 'mini-hydro' schemes-which can be 'run-of-river', with no dam or water storage, or developed using existing or new dams whose primary purpose is local water supply, river and lake water-level control, or irrigation.

In 2029-30, the share of hydropower in Australia's total electricity generation is projected to fall to around 3.5%.

Take a look at our hydropower projects.

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Hydropower - Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)

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Hydropower is generated when falling water is channeled through water turbines. The pressure of the flowing water on turbine blades rotates a shaft and drives an electrical generator, converting the motion into electrical energy. Hydropower is the most advanced and mature renewable energy technology, and provides some level of electricity generation in more than 160 countries worldwide.