The resilience of Australian wind energy to climate change
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15548807 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jason P Evans (0000-0003-1776-3429, UNSW Sydney, corresponding author), Merlinde Kay (0000-0002-6003-2034, UNSW Sydney), Abhnil Prasad (0000-0003-3336-7338, UNSW Sydney), A J Pitman (0000-0003-0604-3274, UNSW Sydney), Andy Pitman |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 024014-024014 |
| Publication date | 2018-01-09 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/aaa632 |
| OpenAlex | W2782751940 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 30 |
The Paris Agreement limits global average temperature rise to 2oC and commits to pursuing efforts in limiting warming to 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels. This will require rapid reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases and the eventual decarbonisation of the global economy. Wind energy is an established technology to help achieve emissions reductions, with a cumulative global installed capacity of 486 GW (2016). Focusing on Australia, we assess the future economic viability of wind energy using a 12-member ensemble of high-resolution regional climate simulations forced by Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) output. We examine both near future (around 2030) and far future (around 2070) changes. Extractable wind power changes vary across the continent, though the most spatially coherent change is a small but significant decrease across southern regions. The cost of future wind energy generation, measured via the levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE), increases negligibly in the future in regions with significant existing installed capacity. Technological developments in wind energy generation more than compensate for projected small reductions in wind, decreasing the LCOE by around 30%. These developments ensure viability for existing wind farms, and enhance the economic viability of proposed wind farms in Western Australian and Tasmania. Wind energy is therefore a resilient source of electricity over most of Australia and technological innovation entering the market will open new regions for energy production in the future
Climate change · Cost of electricity by source · Economics · Electricity · Electricity generation · Geography · Global warming · Greenhouse gas · Meteorology · Nameplate capacity · Natural resource economics · Power (physics · Wind power · Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics · Climate Change Policy and Economics · Engineering · Environmental Science · Wind Energy Research and Development
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| Citations per year | 0.8 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2024 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |