Solar Power Has Important Role In Achieving Australias Renewable Energy Target By 2050

Solar power has emerged as the rising star of Australia's renewable energy sources in a report analysing Government agency data compiled by Green Energy Markets recently.

The report established that the two major factors influencing the growing interest in renewable and sustainable sources of energy in Australia are the rapid growth of solar energy as well as the gradual phase-out of brown coal and oil, the two most carbon-dioxide heavy forms of electricity generation.

Rooftop solar, which significantly reduces the rising cost of electricity bills as well as helping to ease the strain on electricity grids suffering from hyperactive power usage on hot days, played a crucial role in the milestone achieved in Australia during 2012-2013. 13.14% of Australia's total electricity generated was supplied by renewable energy sources. This figure is enough to power the equivalent of 4 million Australian homes and it is the first time this century that a supply mark of greater than 10% has been reached.

Despite only contributing 8% to Australia's annual renewable energy generation, rooftop solar is growing rapidly. The Green Energy Market's report figures indicated that approximately 322,000 solar power systems were installed around Australia in 2012. This brings the total to almost 937,000, which equates to around 11% of residential dwellings being fitted with a solar power system by the end of that year.

Renewable energy usage is growing at an average annual rate of 4.8% while usage of fossil fuels is decreasing by 3.1% each year. Although wind power represents Australia's largest percentage of total renewables, solar power will be the fastest grower at a rate of 12.3% per year. With this rapid growth rate, solar energy will play a lead role in encouraging Australia's transition to a clean energy economy.

Thus, the Green Energy Market's analysis garners confidence in Australia's ability to keep on track towards not only reaching the Renewable Energy Target of 20% renewables by 2020 but also surpassing this and accomplishing a record 51% of all electricity generated by renewable and sustainable sources of energy by the year 2050.

Other positive issues that the report highlighted included the fact that more than 4.2 billion was invested in renewable energy and energy efficient technologies in 2012 and also that the renewable energy industry employed approximately 24,300 people at the beginning of 2013.

As the world's population grows, so too does the demand for energy. No one single source of renewable energy is enough to take the place of fossil fuels, but a combination of renewable sources certainly can, and solar energy is proving to be a powerful factor in the changing landscape of Australia's energy generation.