Surge in solar, wind and battery investment sets pace for 82% target. Can Australia keep it up?
2025 might have got off to a shaky start for the renewable transition, but if the data on investment in renewables is anything to go by, Australia is right where it needs to be.
The latest quarterly investment report from the Clean Energy Council shows that in the last quarter of 2024, seven renewable energy projects totalling 1,589 MW reached financial close.
The result marks the second quarter in a row where financially committed new generation projects surpassed 1 GW, and the first time this has happened in consecutive quarters since 2021.
A big contributor to the bumper quarter was Lightsource bp’s 585 MW Goulburn River Solar Farm which won a berth in the first round of the Capital Investment Scheme tenders.
The Q4 renewable energy projects add up to an estimated total of $2.4 billion, according to the report.
For the year, the total amount of new renewable energy generation capacity committed reached a total of 4,346 MW, worth over $9 billion – the best annual investment figures since 2018.
Divided down technology lines, onshore wind had a total of 2,218 MW reach financial commitment for the year – a welcome recovery from the grim total of zero recorded in 2023.
For large-scale solar a total of 1,918 MW of new capacity was greenlit for construction in 2024, compared to 1,314 MW in 2023.
Large-scale storage for the quarter saw 870 MW / 1,936 MWh worth of projects reach financial commitment, the report says, capping off “another outstanding year”.
All this bodes very well for the renewable energy industry and for Australia’s journey to 82% renewables by 2030 – and net zero by 2050.
And we need to keep it up. The CEC report stresses that this level of capacity is required each quarter to meet the 2030 target.