BNEF estimates Australia’s need for wind and solar at 800 GW

Market research company Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) has presented an analysis of the Australian energy industry. Among other things, the report (New Energy Outlook: Australia) makes an estimate of the demand for generation capacity from renewables.
In Australia, electricity generation is still the largest CO2 emitter, with total installed wind and solar capacity at 39 gigawatts (GW) at the end of last year. For a »net-zero« scenario in 2050, BNEF estimates the country would need to reach 300 GW. Two-thirds (201 GW) would be in photovoltaic plants, about half of which would be rooftop and half utility-scale (ground-mounted) solar.
Demand would be far greater still in the »hydrogen export scenario,« in which the country realizes its potential to export green hydrogen. According to BNEF, Australia could meet about six percent of global hydrogen demand with an annual production of 28 million tons in 2050. But this would require electricity production totaling 1,963 terawatt hours, about seven times as much as today. Under this premise, the BNEF calculations result in a wind and PV capacity of 812 GW, with the latter providing around two-thirds, and this again mainly in the form of large solar power plants.
© PHOTON