Wind and Solar Energy in Australia - Case Study Example

Wind and solar energy in Australia Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction Energy reliability is very essential for any sector of economy to conduct its operations effectively. All industries require a sustainable source of energy in order to succeed in their operations. Traditional sources of energy such as installing generators are very expensive to maintain, noisy and pollutes the environment (Marteena, 2006). From the research which has been conducted in Australia, it is clear that renewable energy is needed to sustain the industries and also the cost of using nonrenewable energy. From this research which has been conducted, it is clear that renewable sources of energy in Australia are not sustainable. The main sources of energy that will be discussed in this paper are the solar and wind energy in Australia. This essay will compare and contrast, wind and solar energy use in Australia, the economic viability of wind and solar energy and reasons why they have not been successful leading to lack of sustainability. It will also discuss the economic benefits of using wind and solar energy as well as the effects of using wind and solar energy. Solar energy is among the most common source of renewable energy used in Australia. The federal government of Australia was advised by the Kyoto treaty to help in reducing global warming by introducing renewable sources of energy in its production of energy such as solar energy. From the research which has been conducted in Australia, it has been found that the Northern territory is the most suitable state where solar energy can be produced in large scale when compared to states like Tasmania. A solar system generates about 50MW/km2. The renewable energy target for Australia is 45,000GWh by the year 2020 (Liam, et al. 2013). This represents 20% target of renewable energy (Shafiullah et al 2010). The diagram below indicates solar energy production per state; (Shafiullah et al 2010, p 5) The advantage of solar energy is that it is less costly. The cost of installing the production of solar energy is not high and can be afforded by many energy users. For instance, the installation costs of a converter for converting Alternating Current to Direct Current is AU$800. This implies that the cost of installing equipment for producing solar energy is not too high, hence it helps to cut down the cost of electricity (Shafiullah et al 2010). Another advantage of solar energy is that it can be used in remote areas where it is expensive to distribute electricity. This is because the transportation costs of renewable sources of energy will be high as well as the cost of installing hydroelectric power. Solar can be found in plenty in remote areas and the space required for installation is available. In this effect, solar energy can serve as a source of energy in remote areas of Australia such as the Northern part which is plenty of solar sources. Another advantage of solar energy is that it is in massive scale and available in the open space. This makes it cheaper than other sources of energy which are not freely available. In this case, the solar energy in the Northern parts of Australia is most common as the place has plenty of solar (Andrew 2009). In addition, another advantage is that the methods used to convert solar into energy are environmentally friendly. This is because the equipments which are used to convert the solar into energy produce less or very little pollution which does not pollute the environment. This implies that the solar energy is environmentally friendly because it does not pollute the environment. Furthermore, solar energy power stations produce less noise which does not affect the surrounding environment such as the people living around the area. This implies that there are minimal hazards to the surrounding environment which can affect the living standards of the people. The process of installing solar energy equipment is shown in the diagram below; (Lakatos et al 2011, p. 8) Wind energy on the other hand is another source of renewable energy. Wind energy greatly depends on the strength of the wind. Wind energy is approximately proportional to the cube of the wind. For instance, if the speed of the wind is 6 m/s it would be approximated to double to 8 m/s at the site. Wind energy is usually produced when there is high wind current. The Southern coastline of Australia is the major source of wind, hence wind energy is produced here. These Southern places have wind speeds of about 9 m/s at 50 m above the ground. Considering these wind sources, the best places in Australia, which are generating wind energy include SE South Australia, Northern Tasmania, Queensland and Western Victoria. Australia has land which has good sources of wind which can be used to produce wind energy other than electricity. For instance, South Western Australia has very good wind with good speed of about 6m/s at 60 m above the ground. This can be used to generate electricity about 30 times, hence it is suitable to produce wind energy instead of electricity. The wind energy production varies with seasons of the year hence there is no standard amount of wind energy produced. However, the modern generators which are found in Australia can produce between 600 to 2000 kW. This wind energy production is expected to increase to 2000 and 5000kW respectively. It is expected that wind energy production will increase tremendously by the year 2020 to meet the energy demands in Australia (Andrew 2009). One of the advantages of wind energy is that once the turbines have been installed, there is no more emission of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. This helps to protect the environment from gases which are emitted when producing energy from renewable sources. For instance, since Australia started using renewable sources of energy, environmental pollution has reduced by 20%. This implies that wind energy helps to preserve the environmental pollution (Liam, et al 2013). Moreover, wind turbines occupy a little space when they are being installed. The wind turbines can be very tall, but they take small space when they are being installed. The wind turbines can take a small space such as 6 meters squared, which is not a big space. In this regard, they can be installed even in big cities where there is limited space for installation hence it can serve even in big cities (Lakatos et al 2011). Another advantage is that wind is free and it’s not limited. It is a natural resource, hence it can be captured by anybody for wind energy production. Wind generators also have the advantage of not killing the birds. The generators are located in places such as near rookeries where the birds rarely fly into the blades. Wind energy is also important because it does not kill the birds (Andrew 2009). Solar and wind sources of energy have their own drawbacks. To start with, solar energy is not reliable to meet the increasing demand of the energy users. This is because the technology of reproducing solar energy has not been fully exploited. For instance, the solar energy production technology in Australia can only be able to convert about 15% of the solar into energy while coal and gas can achieve efficiencies of about 35% and 50% respectively with a combined cycle. In this regard, it can be said that solar energy cannot be able to meet the energy demands in Australia due to limited source of solar energy and also the level of technology used to covert solar energy into electricity (Pranoto & Jerry 2012). Moreover, solar energy uses batteries to store energy. This implies that they need storage and transportation means which might be expensive to purchase and install. In this regard, the cost of installing solar energy station is relatively high, although the prices of equipment are falling rapidly in the recent years. Another disadvantage of solar energy is that it depends on daytime for its collection. Also, another disadvantage is that solar energy requires a large piece of land to install the station. This may make it difficult to manage the production of solar energy. In addition, there is the disadvantage of spillage of working fluid. Generation of energy through solar is prone to spillage fluids such as ammonia. This can affect the environment surrounding the power station. This hazard happens due to lack of proper handling of materials. Another disadvantage is that with the introduction of PV systems, the energy payback time is likely to decline in the next decade. The present payback is 3 to 5 years, but it is likely to decline to 1 to 2 years with the introduction of thin films and PV systems which are concentrated (Andrew 2009). In this regard, it can be concluded that solar energy could not be sustained in Australia leading to lack of sustainability of renewable sources of energy. On the other hand, the disadvantage of wind energy is that it depends on the strengths of wind. There are times with high strengths and low strengths hence the production of wind energy depends on the wind strength. When the wind strength is below 6 m/s, generation of wind energy will be low. In most cases, wind with high strengths blow only for a short while which will not be adequate to produce wind energy to serve the growing demand for wind energy. In this regard, therefore, it can be said that wind energy production is not adequate due to changing strengths of wind in Australia, hence the energy will not be adequate to meet the growing demand of the energy users. Another advantage is that wind turbines range in various sizes and this implies that the people can purchase the turbines in accordance with their financial limits, especially the people from the Southern Coast which experiences wind with high strengths. Moreover, during the manufacture of wind turbines, there is some pollution to the environment. This implies that there is some pollution from the installation of the wind energy station (Lakatos et al 2011). Another disadvantage of wind energy is the visual amenity. Some of the wind firms are installed with opposition while others are installed without opposition. The speed of the wind is particularly strong in the coastal region which is the habitat for natural beauty. Therefore wind firms are prone to destroying the natural beauty (Andrew 2009). The use of renewable sources of energy in Australia has had big impacts on the economy of the country. The reason why Australia adopted the use of renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar to produce electricity is that the cost of electricity went high and with the changing global economic demands there was the need to develop alternative sources of energy. The production of energy from wind and solar will supplement other energy sources and this will help to lower the cost of energy which will enable investors to invest in Australia because the cost of energy is low (Asif & Muneer 2005). Wind and solar energy help to increase the export of energy. (Pranoto & Jerry 2012, p. 8) The government of Australia came to find out that fossil fuels could be the most efficient source of energy to replace renewable sources of energy and this will help to improve the economy of the country. However, the government also found out that there was a lot of carbon dioxide, which was emitted to the atmosphere and this could affect the performance of others sectors of the economy. For instance, between the years of 1990 and 2009, the greenhouse gas emission in Australia increased by 28% which is a very big margin. The main source of this greenhouse gases is the production of the electricity. The electricity sector is the leading in the production of greenhouse gases (Greg 2009). Some of the economic benefits of producing energy from solar and wind include creation of job opportunities, reduced emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere which could otherwise affect the other sectors of the economy. In this regard, therefore, use wind and solar energy in Australia has helped to improve the economy of the country by promoting the use of low cost energy sources which are wind and solar energy. Wind and Solar sources of energy are very essential in preserving the environment (Ingrid 2012). Through renewing the sources of energy, the rate of emitting carbon dioxide in the air is reduced. This helps to preserve the environment (Lakatos 2011). For instance, wind does not emit any carbon dioxide to the environment, thus it protects the climate. These sources of energy are abundant globally, but have not been fully exploited. The renewable energy sources account for about 13.5% of the global energy sources. There are various weaknesses of implementing solar and wind energy in Australia leading to lack of sustainability. These factors include market factors. The market factors include taxation rates, competition, high cost of transactions and trade barriers (Marteena et al 2006). These market factors lead to market failures which make it hard to implement solar and wind energy because they make the installation costs high and cannot be afforded by many investors. Another factor which leads to lack of sustainability of solar and wind energy sources is financial and economic factors. Lack of access to capital and credit facilities becomes a barrier to the implementation of renewable energy in Australia (Marteena et al 2006). This is because there is no adequate funding to support sustainable production of solar and wind energy in Australia. Another factor is the institutional factor. These are the factors which make it hard to produce renewable energy in remote areas. These factors include lack of proper ways to disseminate information, legal frameworks and macroeconomic environment, hence these factors make it hard to produce sustainable wind and solar energy. On the other hand, there are also technical factors which are associated with the climate. Solar and wind energy greatly depends natural sources such as solar and wind. The potential places for this include arid and semi arid places. Lack of standard codes, skilled employees and poor designed systems which it hard to implement the solar and wind energy production. Social factors also lead to lack of sustainability of solar and wind energy. Some cultures do not advocate for the production of solar and wind energy. Lack of making social considerations such as technologies and the capacity to make community accept the systems of production, renewable is an issue, hence the community members do not understand the importance of producing energy from solar and wind leading to low production of renewable energy which cannot be sustainable (Marteena et al 2006). Considering the above discussions, it can be shown that the strategies put in place by the government of Australia are not sustainable to supply energy to meet the increasing energy demands. Despite the economic and environmental benefits reaped from the use of wind and solar energy, the strategies put in place are not adequate to sustain the energy demands in Australia. In this regard, there is a need for strategies on how to sustain renewable sources of energy. Conclusion This essay discussed the comparison between wind and solar energy, their economic viability and reasons why wind and solar energy have not been successful. The economic impact of using wind and solar energy is that it helps to create employment and also lowering the cost of electricity. This is because; it is costly to produce renewable sources of energy. The main sources of renewable energy in Australia are solar and wind energy. Wind and solar sources of energy are less costly as compared to non-renewable sources of energy. The wind and solar energy help to protect the environment as they do not pollute the environment. However, they are costly to install and they can only be produced in small quantities. In Australia, the production of renewable sources of energy does not meet the demand for the energy by the industries and domestic use. The reasons why wind and solar energy production in Australia is not successful is due to economic cost, inadequate financial support from financial institutions and unreliability of technology. In this regard, the production of renewable sources of energy in Australia is not sustainable to meet the demand for the energy by various sectors of the economy. Recommendations In order to improve the sustainability of wind and solar energy in Australia, the government should put more efforts to finance various organizations to install renewable sources of energy. This will help to encourage the use installation and use of wind and solar energy in Australia. Secondly, the government of Australia should help to finance projects of wind and solar energy production. This will motivate many firms in Australia to start producing energy from wind and solar. In addition, the federal government should be able to sensitize the public on the need of using renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar energy. This will help to reduce reliance on the use of electricity as a source of energy. References Blakers, A. (2009). Solar and wind electricity in Australia, Australian National University, Canberra. Asif, M. & Muneer, T. (2005). Energy supply, its demand and security issues for developed and emerging economies. London: Elsevier Ltd. Sovacool, B. (2009). Rejecting renewable: The socio-technical impediments to renewable electricity in the United States. New York: Elsevier Ltd. Buckman, G. (2009). Weaknesses and reform of Australia’s renewable electricity Support. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Muenstermann, I. (2012). 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