Australia’s renewable energy and carbon markets broke new records in 2021 according to the Clean Energy Regulator’s December 2021 Quarterly Carbon Market Report (QCMR), with strong gains across the board.
The report, which includes data for all of 2021, highlights the growing investment appetite for renewable energy and increasing demand for high integrity Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs).
Combined, the Renewable Energy Target (RET) and Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) schemes cut national emissions by the equivalent of 58 million tonnes in 2021, a 9.1% gain over 2020. This is expected to grow to circa 62.8 million tonnes of emissions reduction in 2022.
Clean Energy Regulator chair David Parker said renewable energy continued to shine in 2021, with a record 36% of all electricity fed into the National Electricity Market (NEM) in the fourth quarter coming from renewable energy sources.
“Across the year, our large and small-scale renewable energy schemes delivered an average of nearly one-third of all electricity in the NEM.
“Rooftop solar PV led the way for renewable energy with a record 3.2GW installed in 2021, despite extensive lockdowns and reduced installations in 2 of Australia’s biggest markets – New South Wales and Victoria.
“Australia’s uptake of rooftop solar PV at over 3 million systems and over 16GW of capacity is world leading, with one in three suitable homes now having rooftop solar.
“We also saw almost 3GW of new large-scale renewable energy projects receive the investment green light this year, including Australia’s largest wind farm, the MacIntyre Wind Farm in Queensland. This continues an upward trend that started in 2019 and promises strong growth in the renewable energy industry in coming years,” he said.
2021 was also a big year for the ACCU market. Strong growth in new ACCU issuances under the ERF, up 1 million units from 2020 to 17 million in 2021 and there were record voluntary cancellations of nearly 1 million units.
A record 198 new ERF projects were registered and an additional 7 new or updated ERF methods offered in 2021 which will help bolster future supply of ACCUs to the market and meet the ever-increasing demand for offsets from voluntary ambition.
Mr Parker remarked that the evolution of ERF fixed delivery contracts to allow holders to exit in six-month windows on payment of a fee will also assist with ACCU supply in coming years to better meet the substantial growth in private demand.
“I am also pleased that 25 major Australian companies have volunteered to participate in a pilot of the new Corporate Emissions Reduction Transparency report where their net emissions and cancellation of ACCUs and certificates will be presented. The companies represent almost 26% of scope 1 emissions reported to the Clean Energy Regulator,” he said.
The QCMR September – December 2021 report and workbook are now available.