Three Roadmaps, prepared for an Advance Queensland research project, are a first attempt at a ‘What if? Plan’ for Queensland. Each Roadmap is proposed as a discrete plan for a sector that is vulnerable to a fast, global energy transition away from fossil fuels. The plans are pragmatic, and the technologies required in the plans exist, are affordable, and are ready for deployment now.
a. Queensland Energy Supply Roadmap
The Australian Energy Market Operator reports that approximately eighty per cent of public electricity in Queensland was derived from coal in 2020 . The Queensland Government aims to increase the proportion of renewable energy to fifty per cent by 2030 through the Queensland Renewable Energy Target (QRET).
Referencing electricity market modelling to predict nodal electricity supply in 2030, this roadmap considers the generation and transmission challenges associated with the integration of solar and wind energy into the national electricity market in Queensland.
Read more about the Roadmap to Queensland's Renewable Energy Target 2020
b. Queensland Energy Storage Manufacturing Strategy
There is significant interest from the Queensland energy storage sector, engineering consultancies and CSIRO to develop a Queensland Energy Storage Manufacturing Strategy. The combined view of this group is that globally competitive manufacturing is no longer premised on low cost labour, but rather on the cost of capital and the presence of entrepreneurial spirit. This plan outlines the rationale for a Queensland Energy Storage Manufacturing Strategy.
c. Roadmap to Renewable Energy for Boyne Island
The Boyne Smelter is Queensland’s largest consumer of electricity, is dependent on Gladstone coal-fired Power Station and is majority owned by Rio Tinto. However, supplying ‘green aluminium’ from Boyne Island, as is Rio Tinto’s global strategy, will not be possible unless electricity is supplied from zero-carbon sources.
The plan proposed for Boyne Island is to source electricity from renewable energy sources in Central West Queensland, Gladstone and Wide Bay, secured with robust energy storage, and made affordable through pragmatic policy mechanisms. A pilot proposal is detailed in the Roadmap to Renewable Energy for Boyne Island.