This paper focuses on issues around the rapid deployment of renewables in Australia as an essential part of a cost-efficient transition to a net-zero emissions economy.

This edition contains data to 2017–18 for Australian energy consumption, production and trade, and calendar year 2018 for electricity generation.

Amid debate over climate change, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull claims that renewables plus storage are cheaper than new coal and nuclear power, which he calls "the current weapon of mass distraction for the backbench".

The Clean Energy Regulator announced this month that the 2020 Renewable Energy Target has now been met. But with investment slowing, no national policy and a range of regulatory barriers emerging, what happens next is unclear.

This report has tracked trends and opportunities in the sector since 2004 and shows that global investment in renewable energy capacity hit US$272.9 billion in 2018, far outstripping investments in new fossil fuel generation.