Eye-opening chart reveals how far Qld lags behind clean energy states

Queensland is lagging behind other states in its take up of clean energy with the sunshine state relying heavily on black coal despite southern neighbours being entirely on renewables. SEE THE CHART

An eye-opening chart comparing state-by-state energy mix consumption has revealed how far Queensland is lagging behind its counterparts in its clean energy usage.

According to the Australian Energy Market Operator figures for Tuesday, black coal supplied 73 per cent of Queensland’s power, while southern states were doing much better using clean energy with 81 per cent of South Australia’s supply from wind and 95 per cent of Tasmania’s supply from hydro.

Victoria relies on a mix of wind energy and brown coal while NSW is like Queensland with most of it’s energy coming from black coal.

The strongest renewable source for NSW and Queensland is solar energy.

The AEMO chart undergoes vast daily fluctuations as much of renewable energy is dictated by the environment.

Despite Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk trumpeting her green credentials by saying renewable energy had ‘increased from 7 per cent to 20 per cent’ under her government, Queensland has a much slower target for the transition to renewables - aiming to be 50 per cent by 2030, while other states are already at (or aiming for) 100 per cent now.

None of Queensland’s eight coal-fired power stations will be closed as part of its 10-year energy transition which also includes investing in hydro.

Queensland’s eight coal power stations are scattered from Rockhampton to west of Toowoomba.

The subcritical Stanwell Power Station, near Rockhampton, is scheduled to close by around 2043 while other state owned twin power stations in the South Burnett are due to close by 2037.

The Gladstone Power Station is scheduled to close by 2035 while Callide’s B is set to close in 2028. No closure date has been set for Callide C.

It comes after the AEMO enforced price caps on energy prices which reached a seven-day threshold and resulted in generators reducing the amount of electricity supply and increasing the likelihood of blackouts.

On Wednesday, AEMO announced the electricity spot market across the eastern states was suspended until further notice - the first time the entire electricity market has been suspended since it was formed in 1998.

It means AEMO will be in charge of directing supplies from energy generators to the power grid.

Black coal supplies most of Queensland’s energy.

Leading academics have called for Australia to adopt a collective approach for energy consumption on a federal level, so that state’s could work together for a common goal.

University of Queensland electrical engineering expert Professor Tapan Saha said while Queensland lagged behind other states by relying heavily on coal power, it was streets ahead in other areas.

Prof Saha pointed to the AEMO which showed Queensland was about 10 times more efficient with its solar power use compared to South Australia.

He said it was important to look at the megawatt volume rather than the percentage.

“Queensland is still producing a significant volume of power from coal, but we are also doing the best in the country for solar,” Prof Saha said.

“So there’s positives. You have to look at the volume, not the percentage.

Wind powers most of South Australia.

“South Australia has the best wind resource in the country, whereas Queensland has the most sun, while Tasmania is all about hydro.”

University of Southern Queensland associate professor Andreas Helwig said the state’s fleet of robust coal powered stations were capable of producing an “enormous” amount of energy.

University of Southern Queensland engineering expert Andreas Helwig said the transition to renewable energy was a process years and potentially more than a decade in the making.

“Queensland on a good day, generally relies on about 25 per cent from renewables and between 60-80 per cent on black coal,” Prof Helwig said.

“Much of the coal in Queensland is the highest quality steaming coal which has less heavy materials and mineral rubbish.”

Prof Helwig said the transition to renewable energy was a process years - and potentially more than a decade - in the making.

“Coal power stations can store energy for when power is needed in a hurry, so when it peaked, it peaked at 15 per cent over but the coal power allowed for 120 per cent overload,” he said.

Tasmania is largely powered by hydro.

“Renewables don’t have a good baseload of supply because of the variability of wind and solar. So we have to increase the storage.

“These things take years to implement and restructuring our economy requires enormous input.”

Prof Saha said it was vital for a collective approach for energy consumption to be adopted on a federal level so that the states could work together.

“The solution needs to be properly planned and have a good policy,” he said.

“And it needs to be balanced. I’d like to see the push towards renewables be faster, but renewables are intermittent.”