SET721 - Evaluating Sustainable Energy Infrastructure in Melbourne

This report provides an analysis of Melbourne's energy infrastructure, focusing on the city's use of various energy sources, including natural gas, coal, and renewable energy. It highlights critical factors such as the PV Ultra technology and the role of waste treatment plants in generating renewable energy. The report also addresses challenges related to power outages and emphasizes the importance of efficient energy consumption. Recommendations include upgrading electricity infrastructure with smart meters and installing battery systems to mitigate power outage issues. The study uses references from journals and websites to support its analysis of Melbourne's sustainable energy infrastructure.

Running head: ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE WITHIN MELBOURNE
Energy Infrastructure within Melbourne
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

1ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE WITHIN MELBOURNE
Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................2
2. Discussion..............................................................................................................................2
2.1 Critical and Unique Factors related to Energy.................................................................2
2.2 Challenges within the Energy Supply..............................................................................3
3. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................3
4. Recommendation....................................................................................................................3
5. References..............................................................................................................................4

2ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE WITHIN MELBOURNE
1. Introduction
The Melbourne City is one of the local area of the government located in Victoria,
Australia. It is the capital state of Victoria. Melbourne is mostly famous for their street art
and coffee culture. The city also hosts a range of international events of sporting that includes
the Australian Open, Formula 1 Grand Prix and Melbourne Cup Carnival.
2. Discussion
The energy resources within Melbourne is primarily generated with the help of
several technologies or the use of fuels. This also includes the use of natural gas, coal and
sources of renewable energy (Bahadori, Zahedi and Zendehboudi 2013). The government of
the state always looks towards greater opportunities in order to improve the overall efficiency
of energy and thus would be able to generate a substantial amount of energy from their
operations. The City of Melbourne mainly make use of gas, electricity and transport fuels,
which mainly provide the main energy that are widely used for the conduction of the daily
activities. Melbourne has a huge abundance of sources of energy that comprises of a mixture
of fossil and renewable energy.
The Melbourne City also consists of hydroelectric power stations that are installed
within their network of power supply. They generate 69,500 megawatts of electricity every
year. These power stations are able to generate the energy based on the pressure of flow of
the water. There are also some waste treatment plants that make use of biogas in order to
meet the needs of electricity (Energy In Victoria 2018).

3ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE WITHIN MELBOURNE
(Fig 1: Renewable Energy within Melbourne, Australia)
2.1 Critical and Unique Factors related to Energy
Melbourne has a new technology, named as PV Ultra. They are able to offer efficient
ways of solar energy as compared to the traditional solar photovoltaic panels at a
considerably low-cost budget.
The Western Treatment Plan also generate 71,500 megawatt hours of renewable
energy that is able to prevent 87,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide that would be emitted from the
burning of fossil fuels.
The Eastern Treatment Plan makes use of biogas in order to power their considerable
part of usage of electricity.

4ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE WITHIN MELBOURNE
(Fig 2: Electricity Consumption within Melbourne City)
2.2 Challenges within the Energy Supply
There are certain challenges that are faced by the Melbourne City related to the supply
of power. There are certain situations where there are instances of power outages within the
city. This is a huge matter of concern for the state as this might affect the production for
certain companies and the people living within the city would face major problems (Ghaffour
et al. 2014).
3. Conclusion
The discussion concludes that the supply of energy plays a major role within the city.
Hence, the government should focus on implementing strategies based on the efficient
consumption of the resources of energy. The Government of Australia should also encourage
large business of energy to improve the efficiency of energy within the state.

5ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE WITHIN MELBOURNE
4. Recommendation
In order to increase the efficiency of energy, the government has upgraded their
infrastructure of electricity by installing smart meters within most of the small businesses and
households (Smart Meters 2018). They can also reduce the problem of power outages by
installing battery systems within each household and companies. These kind of smart ideas
would be helpful in solving the various problems and thus ensuring a healthy environment.

6ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE WITHIN MELBOURNE
5. References
Bahadori, Alireza, Gholamreza Zahedi, and Sohrab Zendehboudi. "An overview of
Australia's hydropower energy: Status and future prospects." Renewable and sustainable
energy reviews 20 (2013): 565-569.
Energy In Victoria. 2018. Energy. https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/about-energy/energy-in-
victoria.
Ghaffour, Noreddine, Sabine Lattemann, Thomas Missimer, Kim Choon Ng, Shahnawaz
Sinha, and Gary Amy. "Renewable energy-driven innovative energy-efficient desalination
technologies." Applied energy 136 (2014): 1155-1165.
Smart Meters. 2018. Energy. https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/electricity/smart-meters.