Renewable energy use and potential in remote central Australia

High electricity prices coupled with a high level of energy use by Australian households is likely to exert more pressure on low-income households, raising concerns about whether Australia’s high standard of living can be sustained, particularly for disadvantaged indigenous people living in remote Australia. Australia’s average residential electricity prices have recently been higher than many other developed countries such as Japan, United States of America, Canada and others in the European Union (EC, 2014; Mount, 2012). In addition, Australia’s energy consumption per capita is much higher than most other countries, including more than ten times that of some rapidly developing countries, such as India (EIA (US Energy Information Agency), 2011).

Remote Australia covers more than 86% of the surface area of the continent but is only sparsely populated by 2.3% of the Australian population. Remote Australia is quite different from other parts of Australia, with both rich opportunities and considerable challenges...