The Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics has released its Australian Energy Technology Assessment (AETA) Report and Model, prepared in consultation with WorleyParsons, the Australian Energy Market Operator, CSIRO, and a stakeholder reference group drawn from industry and research/academic organisations with interests and expertise in a diverse range of electricity generation technologies.

 

BREE Executive Director and Chief Economist Professor Quentin Grafton, said that the AETA provides the best available and most up-to-date cost estimates for 40 electricity generation technologies under Australian conditions.

 

“By the mid 2030s some renewable technologies, such as solar photovoltaic and wind onshore, are expected to have the lowest levelised costs of electricity generation of all of the evaluated technologies,” he said.

 

“Among the non-renewable technologies, combined cycle gas (and in later years combined with carbon capture and storage) and nuclear offer the lowest levelised costs of electricity generation over most of the projection period, and remain cost competitive with the lower cost renewable technologies out to 2050.”

 

In a summary of the study’s findings, Professor Grafton said Australia’s energy future is likely to be very different to the present, predicting that Australia will experience an energy transformation over the coming decades that will have “a profound impact for electricity networks, how energy is distributed and on Australia’s ability to meet its targeted greenhouse gas emissions reductions.”

 

The AETA is updated on a biennial basis and will be an important input to the Australian Government's Energy White Paper, due for release later in 2012.

 

The Australian Energy Technology Assessment, including the Report and the accompanying model that generates the levelised cost of electricity for each of the technologies and by region, can be downloaded at www.bree.gov.au.