Australian’s emissions of carbon dioxide from power generation decreased 7 per cent in the financial year ending June 30 according to the latest report by Pitt & Sherry energy consultancy.
For the last four years there has been a consecutive decline in carbon emissions; in 2012-13 financial year emissions fell 12.2 million mt, in previous years reductions varied from 1.2 million mt to 7.4 million mt. The reductions have been primarily due to the cost of the government’s tax on carbon emissions and the reduction of demand for electricity driven by renewable energy projects.
According to the CEDEX Electricity Update, electricity generation is down 2 per cent while emissions are down by 12.2 million tonnes CO2-e, which is equivalent to approximately 7 per cent for the first year of carbon pricing.
Power generation by black coal power stations continues to decline, mainly attributed to the reduction in Queensland. The report also outlined that brown coal fired power station production has actually increased slightly in the last five years.
Whilst this is good news towards a renewable future, there has been reports that the shrinking Australian electricity market and lower wholesale electricity rates isn’t necessarily a good thing. Mathew Warren of Energy Supply Association of Australia commented:
“Low wholesale prices isn’t necessarily a good thing: it makes life tougher for all energy suppliers, including renewable energy generators, and could have long-term effects on reliability and stability.”
