Queensland Government Says State Is Halfway to 2030 Renewable Energy Target

The view overlooking wind turbines and farmland is seen at the Taralga Wind Farm in Taralga, Australia, on Aug. 31, 2015. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

The Australian state of Queensland is confident it will replace half of the state’s energy supply with renewables by 2030 due to a surge in generation capacity.

The Queensland government has confirmed that renewables now account for over 25 percent of the state’s electricity supply.

It cited a 20 percent increase in “clean” energy supply in the past year as the main reason for the uptake of renewables.

Furthermore, the state government said Queensland would connect to another 682 megawatts of renewable generation before Christmas 2023.

While touting the result, Queensland Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen Minister Mick de Brenni said his government could achieve the 2030 renewable energy target early.

“Queensland remains on track to reach our 2030 renewable energy and emissions reductions target thanks to our partnerships with investors and landholders,” he said in a statement.

“But we can only do this by transitioning away from coal and gas generation, which continues to set the wholesale electricity market and drive electricity prices up for Queenslanders.”

The minister also believed that the problem of high energy prices in the state could be solved with more renewables on the grid.

“Once renewables dominate the wholesale electricity market, we will see long term reductions in wholesale power prices,” he said.

Queensland has set targets to achieve 50 percent of renewable coverage by 2030, 70 percent by 2032, and 80 percent by 2035.

These targets will be legislated as part of the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan.

Queensland’s Huge Investments in Renewables

The Queensland government revealed that it had allocated $19 billion (US$12.45 billion) over four years to deliver on the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan, with $5.5 billion to be spent on renewable infrastructures alone in the 2023-2024 financial year.

Queensland also set aside a $4.5 billion fund to incite government-owned corporations to acquire commercial renewable energy and hydrogen projects.

The state currently has 52 large-scale renewable projects across 12 Renewable Energy Zones and has added six gigawatts of renewable generation capacity to the grid since 2015.

Solar panels are seen at solar farm on the northern outskirts of Canberra, Australia on June 15, 2022. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Under the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan, the state government will build two deep-pumped hydro energy storage projects in Burdekin and Lake Borumba with a total capacity of seven gigawatts.

It also planned to construct SuperGrid, Australia’s largest energy network, to transport renewable power across the state.

In addition, the government said dozens of community batteries were being rolled out to support the sharp rise in rooftop solar panels.

It was estimated that Queensland residents currently install a rooftop solar system every 10 minutes on average.

Problems with Large-Scale Renewable Adoption

While the Queensland government hopes to replace most of its power grids with renewable energy, a Canadian province has suspended renewable projects due to the insufficient amount of power generated.

On Aug. 3, the Alberta government announced a six-month moratorium on larger renewable energy projects like wind and solar, citing a lack of conventional power to firm up its energy system when the wind turbines and solar panels were not working.

“In the winter, we had several times where the grid almost failed because we didn’t have enough power, and you can’t call up wind and solar on demand,” Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith said.

The premier backed up her argument with data from the Alberta Electric System Operator, which showed many occasions where the amount of electricity produced by renewable energy projects was minuscule.

“We had times where even though we have 5,000 megawatts of installed wind and solar, there were two days in the winter where it was producing less than 100 megawatts of power,” she said.

To solve the problem, Ms. Smith said the state needed to have enough natural gas plants producing electricity to support the system during unfavourable weather conditions.

“The federal government doesn’t want us to add any new natural gas to the grid. So I’ve told them, how can I bring on additional wind and solar if I’m not able to secure the reliability of my power grid by being able to bring on natural gas peaker plants? That’s … at the heart of the problem,” said the premier.

Doug Lett contributed to this article.