The Renewable Energy Target assists the energy sector to meet the Australian Government’s commitment to the delivery of at least 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity supply from renewable sources by 2020.
The number of renewable energy power stations accredited under the Large-scale Renewable Energy Target has increased each year since 2001. As at 31 December 2013 there were 394 accredited power stations. The growth in the number of accredited power stations since the scheme commenced is illustrated in Graph 1.
The estimated generation and displacement capacities of small-scale system installations have increased steadily since the commencement of the Renewable Energy Target in 2001. ‘Displacement’ refers to the estimated reduction in demand for electricity from the grid that results from the installation of a solar water heater (a solar hot water system or an air source heat pump). Graph 4 illustrates the estimated increases in the two main contributors to overall small-scale capacity: generation from small-scale solar panel systems and displacement from solar water heaters.
Generation from small-scale solar panel systems has increased significantly since 2009. The Clean Energy Regulator estimates that small-scale solar panel systems contributed 1,283 gigawatt hours of renewable electricity generation in 2011, 2,570 gigawatt hours in 2012, and 3,766 gigawatt hours in 2013. The 2020 target for small-scale generation is 4,000 gigawatt hours.
In total, small-scale installations have the capacity to generate or displace approximately 6,882 gigawatt hours of electricity annually. Of this, approximately 4,182 gigawatt hours is generated from small generation units (small-scale solar, wind or hydro installations), and a further 2,700 gigawatt hours of otherwise required generation is displaced by solar water heaters.