New South Wales is the worst state in Australia for renewable energy use. According to the Climate Council, the state is falling further behind.
The report suggest that the Baird government is a long way from its aim of becoming the country’s version of California, the US state that is known for its inventive ad widespread use of solar and other renewable sources.
New South Wales is the only state to score a “D” in the yearly report card form the independent non-profit organisation founded by members of the defunct federal government Climate Commission. Only about 6% of NSW’s energy produced in 2014 came from renewable sources. It was a slight drop on the previous year and it compared unfavourably with other Australian states like Tasmania at 95%, South Australia at 40% and Western Australia at 13%. A spokesperson for Energy Minister Anthony Roberts stated that discrepancies in its approach to calculating renewable energy use, with the government estimates doubling the council’s estimates.
News South Wales proportion of renewable energy use is comparable to more populated states like Victoria and Queensland. The report authors penalised the state for not committing to a formal target for securing a proportion of its energy form renewable sources. Other large states have targets of reaching 20%-50% renewable consumption within the next 15 years.
New South Wales also produces less than half of the renewable energy per capita of Queensland and Victoria when large scale hydroelectricity projects are excluded.