While the federal government says South Australia's reliance on renewable energy threatens the stability of its power supply, energy experts say the state's power outage was most likely caused by a transmission fault due to storm damage. One thing both sides seem to agree on is the need for a coordinated national renewable energy policy...

South Australia’s iconic Kangaroo Island, the site of Australia’s first free settled colony, could pioneer a new age of renewable energy, according to our new research. The first hardy settlers in 1836 had to decide whether to go it alone with a settlement on the island or revert to the mainland. Today, the 4,400 or...

The past decade has seen the energy industry, and particularly electricity generation, transformed. As households install solar panels and communities develop renewable energy projects, electricity generation is rapidly becoming localised. Community renewable energy projects are an important and increasing part of this transformation. Australia’s first community wind farm Hepburn Wind started operating in June 2011...

Australia’s funding of fossil fuel research has consistently been among the highest in the developed world, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of our gross domestic product (GDP). Among the IEA members, Australia was the first, second or third largest funder of fossil fuel research from 1989 to 2003, and second or third...

Increasing economies of scale, more competitive supply chains and further technological improvements will continue reducing the costs of solar and wind power. The same factors will also boost the availability of these key renewable power sources at night and in varying weather conditions. With the right policies in place, the cost of electricity from solar...