Total Solar By 2040

By the year 2040 Australia could almost entirely phase out the use of fossil fuels. And this could mostly be done by increasing our uptake of solar energy, experts claim. Professor Ken Baldwin, director of the ANU's Energy Change Institute, has stated that if Australia doubled its rate of solar uptake and if wind energy maintained its current pace, the country could be all but a few gigawatts short of its energy requirements by 2030.

Professor Baldwin made the statements while speaking in the lead-up to a 2 day Sydney summit to discuss the relevance and possibility of using nuclear energy to satisfy the nation's energy needs. He raised the possibility of total solar reliance as an alternative to an expensive, difficult and potentially dangerous nuclear program, as meeting Australia's energy needs with nukes would take around 15 years, require the importation of expertise and equipment, and would add to the already spiralling costs of maintaining reactors and nuclear infrastructure.

Professor Ian Lowe, Professor of Science at Griffith University, supported the claims. "For 40 years, we've been assured that there are better reactors on the drawing board that will solve the problems and they've failed to materialise," Professor Lowe said. "If it is possible to meet our needs with renewables, why would we use nuclear power?"

Solar energy is adding around one gigawatt of extra capacity each year, which is about the same as the amount of energy being added by wind farms. If this pace doubled however, in only 5 years it would overtake the amount of energy produced by carbon producing fossil-fuel reliant power generation.

These estimates are based on the assumption that our total energy demand will drop as Australia becomes more energy-conscious and more efficient consumption practices are put into place. This model is based on research that suggests that Australia's power consumption may level out or continue to decrease at the same rate as it was in the year 2012.

It's also noteworthy that this is a national model for energy consumption, and that some states are already well on their way to total independence from fossil burning energy sources. South Australia produces around 30% of its energy from wind, while Tasmania significantly relies on hydro-electricity. Other territories are also well on their way to achieving these targets, with the ACT planning to get 90% of its power from renewables by the year 2020.