Decarbonising is a mammoth taskKeith OrchisonBusiness Spectator...

Decarbonising is a mammoth task
Keith Orchison
Business Spectator Today

The height of the decarbonisation hill Australian governments need to climb this decade is underlined in the electricity industrys just-released annual data.

The Energy Supply Association of Australias 2010 yearbook reports that coal-burning to generate power rose again in the 12 months to 30 June last year, a period when the economy was perceived as stressed by the global financial crisis.

The countrys power stations burned 57.1 million tonnes of black coal in 2008-09, up almost 500,000 tonnes from the previous financial year, and 70.5 Mt of brown coal, up 1.4 million tonnes.

To rub in the message, ESAA forecasts that eastern seaboard electricity demand will be almost 20 per cent higher by the end of the decade and Western Australia demand will increase by almost 44 per cent.

This will deliver some 10,000 gigawatt hours more power needs in 2019 than can be met by the Rudd governments re-approved renewable energy target the equivalent of what Tasmania or the Hunter Valley requires annually.

On ESAA figures, the big demand push is going to come in the two eastern black coal states, Queensland and New South Wales, where consumption is projected to rise by almost a quarter over the decade.

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