Skip to Content
Project overview
  • Lead Organisation

    University of Melbourne

    Location

    Melbourne

    ARENA Program

    Advancing Renewables Program

  • Start date

    14 June 2012

    End date

    1 April 2017

  • Project Partners
    University of NSW
    This hybrid technology project was completed on 1 April 2017.

Summary

Prior to these studies being undertaken, there was limited evidence and supporting information as to the relative benefits of a Renewable Energy Target versus a carbon price in terms of the transition to a low carbon energy system.

Key results

By taking multiple approaches to simulating the least cost technology mix to meet projected demand using only renewable energy generation technologies, the project has demonstrated that by optimally placing wind and solar PV plant around the NEM the variability in output can be minimised, and that combined with hydro, concentrating solar thermal and biogas to provide dispatchable generation for times of low output from wind and PV, the system can be run in a stable fashion.

Project innovation

The Achieving Cost-Affective Abatement project led by the University of Melbourne has produced state of the art modelling tools to be used to examine the pathway to a low carbon electrical energy system. The models have demonstrated that the pathway to large carbon abatement is technically feasible and viable from an economic point of view.

Benefit

A low carbon energy system for the National Energy Market (NEM) is technically and economically feasible, and under certain circumstances may be cheaper than a business as usual scenario energy system with mostly fossil generation.

Read more about hybrid technologies.

Last updated 29 January 2021
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Back to top