The Australian renewable energy industry powered on in 2021, generating more clean energy than ever before and adding a record amount of new capacity.

Highlights:

• The Australian renewable energy industry accounted for 32.5 per cent of Australia’s total electricity generation in 2021, which represented an increase of almost 5 percentage points compared to 2020. In the past five years, the proportion of Australia’s electricity that comes from renewables has almost doubled, increasing from 16.9 per cent in 2017 to 32.5 per cent this year.
• The growth in renewable energy generation was most keenly felt in the coal sector, which saw its share of total generation fall from 62.0 per cent in 2020 to 59.1 per cent in 2021.
• The gas sector also saw a notable fall, with its proportion of total generation falling to 7.7 per cent in 2021, down from 9.9 per cent in 2020.
• The growth of renewable energy in Australia in 2021 was again led by small-scale solar. The sector added 3.3 GW of new capacity during the year, representing the fifth year in a row that it has set a record for new installed capacity. Small-scale solar accounted for 24.9 per cent of Australia’s total renewable energy generation in 2021, cementing its place as Australia’s second-largest clean energy technology behind wind.