Just 464 square miles could fully decarbonize energy for all of Australia – ditching fossil fuels forever, without harming farms

As renewable energy is rapidly deployed in Australia, the land use debate also continues. National leader David Littleproud, for example, said regional areas had reached a “saturation point” and were unable to cope with more wind and solar farms and transmission lines.

So how much land is needed to fully decarbonize energy in Australia? When we fully switch to solar and wind energy, will we have room for all the panels, turbines and power lines?

I did the sums. We only need 1,200 square kilometers, or 464 square miles. Its not so many. The area devoted to agriculture is approximately 3,500 times larger, at 4.2 million square kilometers. The amount of land that would be taken away from agriculture is about 45 square meters per person, or about the size of a large living room.

We can ditch fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions with a negligible impact on agriculture. In many cases, farmers can be paid to maintain renewable energy infrastructure while continuing to raise sheep and cows or grow crops.

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The challenge of energy transformation

Electricity consumption in Australia is currently around 10 megawatt hours (MWh) per person per year.

Decarbonizing the Australian economy will require the electrification of many technologies that currently derive energy from burning fossil fuels. Then we need to ensure that the electricity grid is based exclusively on renewable sources.

When we electrify transport, heating and industry, annual electricity consumption per capita doubles. But we will need even more electricity to decarbonize aviation and shipping. It is therefore reasonable to assume that electricity consumption must triple if we are to complete decarbonization, to 30 MWh per person per year.

Logically, this can be achieved in three steps, starting with the easiest to achieve:

Scene 1: Solar and wind energy are displacing coal and gas from the electricity system. With the federal government’s target of 82% of electricity coming from renewable sources by 2030, we are well on our way to decarbonising electricity. This trend is already underway, as the chart below shows.

Stage 2: Clean electricity is used to electrify transport (electric vehicles), heating (electric heat pumps) and industrial heat (electric furnaces). This widely available technology could largely replace gasoline and gas within a decade, with a negligible impact on the costs of operating vehicles and home heating.

Stage 3: The chemical industry is decarbonized. Clean electricity is used to produce ammonia, iron, steel, plastics, cement and synthetic aviation and marine fuel.

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Where will this clean energy come from?

Virtually all new generation capacity in Australia over the past decade has come from solar and wind power. The combined share of solar and wind energy has increased from about 6% of electricity generation in 2014 to 33% today. Solar and wind energy provide the cheapest electricity.

Most solar energy in Australia currently comes from rooftop solar panels. These panels do not require additional space. But the roof area is limited. In the coming years, ground-based photovoltaic farms will become increasingly important.

We will also need more wind farms. Each wind farm consists of several dozen turbines and covers an area of ​​several dozen square kilometers. However, only a small part of the land is devoted to agriculture.

It is best to place photovoltaic and wind farms in settled areas of Australia to limit the effect of local cloud cover and wind stagnation.

Most solar and wind farms are located on sheep and cattle farms inland from the Great Dividing Range. There is plenty of sun and wind here, and electricity is not too far away to be transmitted to cities via high-voltage lines.

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So how much land do we need?

Typically, only about 1% of the land covered by wind farms is actually lost to agriculture. In most cases, farmers raise livestock or continue farming near turbine towers and access roads.

Similarly, because solar panels are spaced far apart, the area covered by a solar farm is often two to three times the actual area of ​​the panels themselves.

The panels are usually spaced to avoid losses due to shading. An added advantage is that rain and sunlight can fall in between, allowing grass to grow and livestock to graze and shelter.

About 10,000 km of new transmission lines will also be needed for the energy transformation. This seems like a lot, but it amounts to only 37 centimeters per person.

Again, the amount of land that would be taken away from agriculture for wind turbine towers and access roads is relatively small.

Another small area will be allocated for new storage facilities, such as pumped storage and batteries.

The total area occupied by photovoltaic farms, wind farms and all other infrastructure is approximately 22,000 km2 (mainly the areas between the turbines in wind farms). However, on most of this land, agriculture could largely function normally.

By my calculations, the total area taken away from agriculture to power a 100% renewable economy (zero fossil fuels) is about 45 square meters per person. Given Australia’s total population of 27 million, this means the total area required is 1,200 km2. The area currently devoted to agriculture is approximately 3,500 times larger.

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Farmers can get additional income

Mining companies can often extract land without the landowner’s consent.

Developers of solar and wind farms do not have the same rights. They must agree lease fees with landowners before gaining access to the land. These fees typically amount to tens of thousands of dollars per year per turbine.

For transmission lines, hosts in Victoria receive A$200,000 per kilometer for eight years.

The switch to renewable energy was met with opposition from some residents living near the proposed infrastructure. But it can be overcome.

Successful solar and wind farm companies gain community acceptance through true transparency, especially at the beginning of the project to prevent an information vacuum that is then filled with disinformation.

Paying your neighbors, your renewable energy farm, and creating community funds is also helpful.

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Lots of land to divide

The development of renewable energy infrastructure will be concentrated in regional areas of Australia. However, we can also expect new energy generation capacity from other sources, such as expanded rooftop photovoltaic panels and new offshore wind farms, which will reduce the amount of land needed for the energy transition.

The location of good areas for solar and wind farms is shown in renewable energy heat maps developed by the Australian National University, which take into account solar and wind resources, proximity to transmission lines and protected areas. Farmers in red areas can demand higher prices for leasing land to solar and wind farm companies.

In short, Australia has far more than enough land to accommodate the solar and wind farms required in the renewable energy revolution.

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This article by Andrew Blakers from the Australian National University was originally published by: Conversation.