Voting With Their Rooftops: Renewable Energy is Set to Power 90% of Australian Homes
The generation and use of renewable sources of energy in Australia has taken off significantly in the past decade. In the 2016/2017 financial year, Australia generated enough power from renewables to power 70% of homes in the country, and this was expected to jump to 90% of homes, upon completion of wind and solar projects that were under construction in the same period.
Even more impressive is the fact that just 7% of the national output was generated by renewable sources of energy a decade ago. This rose to 17.2% of the national output in the 2016/2017 financial year, and even further to 18.8% in September of 2017.
Rooftop solar accounts for 18% of the total renewable power generated, and more than 150,000 systems were installed between 2016 and 2017 alone – that is enough to power 226,000 homes. Hydro-electricity makes up 40% of renewable power generated in Australia, with wind accounting for 31%, and solar farms generating the remaining 2%.
The federal Australian government is well on its way to reaching its target of 20% of total energy generation through clean energy by 2020 more than a year early, with estimates being that it will be reached by the end of 2018.
Earlier this year, the government of South Australia also announced plans to collaborate with Tesla to establish the largest virtual power plant in the world by harnessing power from solar energy panels, and storing it in 13.5kWh Tesla Powerwall 2s.
Want to find licensed real estate agents in Australia quickly? We encourage you to invest 2 minutes of your time to complete easy-to-follow questionnaire below and Perfect Agent will find you the best real estate agents in your area.