Australian Renewable Energy: Economic Analysis and Policy Debates

This essay examines the current debate and policies surrounding renewable energy in Australia. It begins by defining renewable energy and differentiating it from non-renewable sources, highlighting the importance of resources like sunlight, wind, and water. The essay details various types of renewable energy, including hydropower, wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and ocean energy, while also discussing the Australian government's investments in the sector. It explores the growing need for renewable energy due to economic and environmental factors, addressing the issues of pollution, energy scarcity, and the high costs associated with non-renewable sources. The essay further discusses the importance of renewable energy, emphasizing its role in sustainable development, job creation, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It also touches upon the issues of implementation and the sustainability of renewable energy sources. The conclusion reinforces the critical role of renewable energy in Australia's future, emphasizing the need for continued investment and policy support to ensure a sustainable and economically viable energy sector.

Economics for Business 1
Economics for Business

Economics for Business 2
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Renewable energy:...........................................................................................................................4
Types of renewable energy:.............................................................................................................4
Importance of renewable energy.....................................................................................................7
Issues with Renewable Energy........................................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References:....................................................................................................................................13

Economics for Business 3
Introduction
This essay is about Australian current debate/Policy on renewable energy. It is an energy, which
is, brings together from various renewable resources that are naturally refilled on a person
timescale like rain, sunlight, tides, wind, geothermal heat and waves. The sources of energy are
renewable sources and non-renewable sources. Natural resources are sunlight, wind and water.
These resources will be available for a never-ending period. However, non-renewable sources
are coal, fossil fuels, and petroleum, which will be available for a limited time. Governing bodies
not only working on renewable energy but also developing new ideas to preserve non-renewable
sources and various researches are doing by the government to regenerate non-renewable
sources. This essay also includes the various types of renewable energy that are biomass and
geothermal energy, ocean energy, hydropower, wind and solar energy. In Australia almost the
amount which is spent by their government is very much high. The essay includes the needs for
the renewable energy. The need of renewable energy is very much high because it generates
from the never-ending sources such as wind, air, sunlight etc. but problem is the planning of
renewable energy is looks goods only on the paper, at the time of execution it seems to be
difficult to implement. Moreover, this essay also mentions the importance of renewable of
energy, it is very important for all the nations to focus on the renewable energy because after a
certain period the resources for non renewable energy comes to an end, at that time only
renewable energy will help the people in providing the energy. Government of all the nations
should focus and develop new and effective plan to make it successful.

Economics for Business 4
Renewable energy:
The population of the economies is growing day by day, which required various energy needs for
sustaining an economy. Australia is a developed economy having high availability of various
natural resources for the production of energy. There are two sources of energy, which are
termed as renewable source, and non-renewable sources of energy. Renewable source of energy
is the source, which is available in the nature and having availability throughout the period of
existence of the economy. It is the resource, which is available repeatedly and will never end.
Such as solar energy, water energy, wind energy and biomass energy. Australian is a developed
country having industry leader in number of solar technology such as photo voltaic, solar thermal
technologies and solar concentrator systems; it is also providing support for international
renewable energy and initiatives towards efficiency.
Types of renewable energy:
Hydropower:
It is the energy produced with the help of falling water by placing a turbine below mainly high
water falls and constructed dams are used for producing energy from water. It is having
advantage of low green house gas emission, quick electricity generation and low operating costs,
which help to fulfill demand in peak need of energy/electricity. Although Australia is one of the
dry continent on earth but still it has managed to produce hydro electricity in New South Wales
and Tasmania (Australian Government, 2017). There are several dams constructed for energy
construction, which resulted to 55% of electricity in NSW and around 29% production of
supplied electricity in Tasmania, both are highest rainfall areas in Australia.
Wind energy:

Economics for Business 5
It is currently the economic source of the energy at large scale especially in the field of
renewable energy. It is the energy, which is generated by converting the flow of wind into energy
with the help of windmill (Kaplan, 2015). It is able to produce around 5.3% of the overall
electricity in the year 2016. It is also 30.8% of the clean energy produced in Australia (Clean
energy council, 2014). It is also providing employment to 48 persons directly or indirectly
without polluting the environment.
Solar energy:
It is also one of the energy sources, which are providing energy at large scale in various countries
around the globe. It is the energy, which is used to produce electricity, heating air, water or any
other liquid with the help of solar radiation (Bygrave, 2016). There are two types of technology
used for such energy generation solar thermal and solar photovoltaic. It is also having highest
solar radiation per square meter while comparing to any other continent, it is also having a
number of the most excellent solar energy assets in the world. It is mainly used for generating
electricity and hot water systems.
Biomass and Geothermal energy:
The energy produced by use of the waste vegetables and animal derived organic waste the by
products in the process of its conversion are also used in the household needs and the energy
produced is used to generate heat and electricity (Moret, et al., 2016). Current sources of such
energy are sewerage treatment plants, landfill sites, livestock feedlots and other farming wastes.
It contributes around 4% of the energy needs of the country.
Geothermal energy is rising as a source of energy in various countries. It is not produced
abundantly in Australia for commercial use but there is rapid need and possibility of energy

Economics for Business 6
generation in Australia. It is expected that if it is produced in the area of 5 kilometers with 302
Fahrenheit will produce energy needs of whole Australia for 26000 years.
Ocean energy:
Ocean energy can be divided into two type’s mechanical and thermal energy. It is having wave
energy and tidal energy, which is a difficult to obtain, and there is not much progress in this
energy generation. Wave energy is also a source of energy in coastal areas there are many
technologies introduced which produces electricity under water (Geoscience Australia, 2017). It
uses the speed and pressure under the sea with the waves, which reach towards coast to generate
electricity.
Needs for renewable energy
There are various companies in Australia working on the needs of the renewable energy it is
having various advantages which also helps in the sustainable development and acting as
strengthening of the economy as a whole. This will also lead to a healthy and pollution free
environment with minimum cost in the energy production for the next generations. It is also
observed that the economies are facing various problems relating to pollution, energy scarcity
and higher cost for generating non renewable sources of energy so need for a other energy
resources have resulted to movement towards renewable energy resources.
The present dependency on oil, coal and natural gas has extreme bad impact on the surroundings,
which also leads to global warming (Ellabban, et al., 2014). If the same condition continues than
the next generation will not able to survive so there is need for conserving the non-renewable
energy and focusing on generating energy at cheap rate.
Large-scale renewable energy target and small-scale renewable energy scheme is introduced by
the Australian government to achieve the needs of the green energy. The LRET includes

Economics for Business 7
legislated yearly targets, which will require important venture in renewable energy production
ability in upcoming years. The large-scale targets also incline up until 2020 when the target will
be 33,000 gigawatt hours of renewable electricity generation. STCs are shaped for providing
facilities to small business and household, which acts as important role in the economic
development (Bygrave, 2016). The systems installed in these areas are according to the quantity
of electrical energy that they are expected to produce or displace in the future. It includes heat
pumps, solar water heaters, small-scale wind systems and hydro systems having estimation of the
energy requirements and satisfying the needs to have self-managed energy supply. This also
allows eligible solar PV systems to create expected system output between the time of equipment
installment and the end of the RET scheme in 2030. Clean energy regulator is the body, which is
taking care of the various renewable energy techniques
Importance of renewable energy
According to latest analysis by the (IRENA) International Renewable Energy Agency, A mixture
of renewable energy and energy competence would be sufficient to grasp worldwide climate to
two degrees of warming. The amount, which is spent by the Australians on energy each year, is
$50 billion. While earning from energy exports each year is more than $24 billion. This industry
includes huge long-lived resources stuffs like coal, transmission lines, gas and oil making
amenities, refineries, pipelines, and wind farms, electricity plants along with huge number of
smaller amenities like retail distribution sales and wholesale. There are major environmental
challenge in production and use of energy. These challenges are use of new and big technologies
that can affect water and air quality of Australia, heritages, biodiversity and noise levels. To
universal production of greenhouse gases, Energy is the major particular contributor (Clean
Energy Council, 2014)

Economics for Business 8
It is projected that demand of energy will increase by fifty percent until 2020 and to meet the
nation’s energy need it is estimated that energy industry will need atleast $37 billion investment
by 2020. About 200 countries decided to take action to grasp warming well under two degrees at
UN climate change conference in Paris last year. Effort currently starts in earnest to work out
and for individual countries how it will look like and which policy fits the best and do the job
more effectively (Clean Energy Council, 2014).
The report of International Renewable Energy Agency says that more than twenty four million
jobs will be created by 2030 if the current share of renewable energy's just be double to 36
percent of the global energy mix and distribute almost half of the production decline essential
under the Paris agreement. Rest can be take care by the energy efficiency.
The increase in renewable would observe an equivalent expansion in Australia’s financial system
of 1.7 percent over business as common, furthermore factoring in a possible turn down in coal
exports, it is according to the research. Report says that the benefit to the global economy would
be A$1.9 trillion. IRENA Director General Adnan Amin said in the Paris conference that
countries should now move from compromise to action and quickly decarbonizes the energy
sector. This examination offers convincing proof that accomplishing the required energy
evolution would not only decrease climate change, but also helps in encourage the economy,
increase the job opportunity globally and improve human welfare. Clean Energy Council
conducted a poll in which they found that 80 percent Australians are in favor of renewable
energy. Renewable energy is not only another source of power generation but this evolution will
help in generating the jobs for Australians as well around the world (Devine-Wright, 2014).
Renewable energy is the solution to a sustainable future for Australia and for other countries
also. From last few years the unemployment rate in Australia has increased and there are very

Economics for Business 9
much job crisis. Therefore, this industry not only provides the energy but also helps in generating
jobs that will increase the economy, which is beneficial for the Australians. Along with schemes
like Renewable Energy Objective, as billions of dollars in investment, the clean energy has
successfully managed to generate thousands of job opportunities. Renewable energy helps in
reducing the country’s orangery gas emissions with numbers showing that the RET has already
diminished Australia’s carbon production by 22.5 megaton’s. Along with benefit to the economy
of renewable energy such as solar power. This will help in protecting the increasing cost of fossil
fuel with number showing that the RET will have coal fired generation about twelve percent
lesser than initially forecasted by 2030 (Apergis, et. al., 2010). At last the most important, basis
of renewable energy like setting up of solar panels provide households the alternative to brawl
against increasing electricity invoices, dropping their dependence on fossil gas produced power
from the grid.
Issues with Renewable Energy
The major issue arise in renewable energy is implementation and survival of it. Although there
are, endless sources those are available in the environment, which helps in generating energy for
the lifelong of every human being. However, the problem is population is increasing day by day
by that those natural resources are getting affected day by day. The major concern for the
government of every nation is to protect their environment and make the best use of it. It is
clearly understood that non-renewable resources will definitely ends after a certain period. Then
dependency of energy is on the natural resources but increasing population and lack of awareness
about the environment among people is damaging the environment. People are not very much
aware about the renewable energy and still there is lack of seriousness towards conserving the
renewable energy source and using renewable energy. Government should conduct seminars to

Economics for Business 10
aware the people about the renewable energy (Twidell, et. al., 2015). It is not only government
responsibility to protect environment for future but people also come forward and work with
government in protecting nature because in near future it will surely become the reason for life.
The nations having abundance of the non-renewable energy are also feeling the problems of
international level of environment pollution which is impacting the surroundings and several
problems relating to the health. It is also known to the nations that these resources are going to
be exhaust in short period of time so energy is considered as most crucial issue in the national
politics of various nations (Epstein, 2017). The growth and expansion of the industries depends
upon the energy sources the countries having cheap energy are having attraction of industrial
setup and higher economic growth. There are also some conflicts on the energy sources due to
the time taken and the resources that are required in the production of renewable resources are
different from non-renewable sources. Some estimated show that if the same rate of consumption
is continued than fossil fuel will end in 50-60 years. It also results to global warming and climate
changes, which is also a key discussion in the G- 20 summit held in the current year. Sustainable
environmental development is the focus for the OECD countries in the next 10 years.
It is also important to understand that still there is about 1.2 billion of the population, which is
not having electricity so the demand for electricity and other energy are having possibility to
increase up to 9 billion in the next 50 years. Melting glaciers and rising sea level will also affect
to changes in the agriculture and fishing industry in Australia and around the globe commercially
(Riley, 2017). So it is required to focus on the renewable sources of the energy with having depth
analysis of the problems in the production and set up cost. Several experienced experts working
on renewable energy are facing problems of incorporating renewable energy resources at lower
rates than non- renewable energy (William, 2017). The other problem with the economy is

Economics for Business 11
switching cost, which is not affordable on the hand of the industrialists and the economy as a
whole. Some of the sectors are very dependent on the fossil fuels and they will not be possible to
switch to renewable energy sources.
It is also a matter of debate that renewable energy cannot provide the needed energy
requirements to fulfill the actual needs. In addition, after several attempts of various
governments, it is not possible a satisfied decision as there is no storage and flexible power
solution to store energy produced from the natural resources; secondly, they are producing just 1
% of the energy while compared on world level so the dependency on fossil fuel remains same.
Cost effectiveness is also a key barrier in implementing clean and green energy (Fischetti, 2013).
The need is to have drastic development in the field of low cost energy production and storage
with the proper channels so that it can reach to the world as the energy from sun in one day is
enough for energy consumption needs of whole year. The key benefit is it is having negligible
impact on the environment.

Economics for Business 12
Conclusion
The essay concludes that renewable energy is very essential for the survival of the human being
in the future. Government of all the nations taking this issue seriously and lots of money is
spending on renewable energy to make it more effective. This essay concludes the difference
between renewable and non-renewable sources. There are several types of renewable energy,
which are explained briefly above in the essay. Australian government is very much focused on
the renewable energy, the amount, which is spent by the government of Australia on energy, is
A$50 billion, and income from energy by exporting it is A$20 billion. To develop energy from
renewable sources seems very easy and government also explains it smoothly but problems
occur in implementation of it. To generate energy from sunlight only works when sun rays
comes in contact with solar panels, but in rainy season it is very much difficult to generate
energy from solar panels because they work when sun rays comes in contact with it, unless not.