Renewable energy in Australia has received a lot of attention globally . The Government has ear marked billions of dollars of investment in wind warms , solar power stations , hot rock power stations and upgrades and new installations of tidal power stations along the Australian coast line.

Hot rock technology is being investigated by many countries around the world including the United States , Russia , New Zealand and Australia. In Australia the State of South Australia has some of the worlds largest volumes granite hot rock sources. The granite can reach up to 300 °C, totally clean energy that can be used to heat water and generate steam- the same process used by fossil fuels in coal fired power stations for example.  The limiting factor globally for this geothermal energy is the ability to access these rocks however Australian hot rock sources are located generally within 5 km of the surface making a viable power generating proposition. The heat is accessed in  geothermal power stations in South Australia from the hot rocks by pumping volumes of  water downto the hot granite through pipes many kilometers long which is one of the challenges with this technology. Because South Australia has some of the best hot rocks available anywhere in the world there has been significant investment from companies , many listed on the stock market , to try and capitalise on the huge renewables program being initial by the Australian Federal Government.

Hot Rock Process- The water is pumped very high pressure into the hot rocks to increase pressure in the rock mass which effectively creates fractures in the granite substrate allowing more water of a greater volume to flow through the hot rocks.There is a cyclical process where by the water pumped down into the hot rocks re emerges from other wells and this is fed into a simple steam producing vessel that then powers the traditional steam turbine used for almost a century now around the globe. Over 300 jobs have been produced in South Australia alone and more renewable energy projects are in the pipeline. Excellent energy efficiency levels can be achieved through this technology.

 Solar Power- Home Solar Panels Installations

The solar industry in Australia has been growing rapidly with the Federal Government solar bonus scheme and various State government feed in tariff schemes introduced since 2007 . There are over 700,000 homes in Australia with solar panels installed on their roofs with 300,000 solar installations in Brisbane and queensland alone  (source http://solarpowerbrisbanex.com.au/ ). The solar power industry has had its ups and down as various rebates and solar tariffs have been reduced or even eliminated in the case of the N.S.W. government.

Solar Power- Solar Power Stations

As well as home solar power systems booming  , see the solar power Brisbane website for more details , there has been huge investment is solar farms and solar power stations all around Australia. It is estimated that 4 billion dollars A$4bn. will be invested in solar farms and solar power stations in the next 5 years. AGL has commenced a solar farm construction at Broken Hill and more private equity will be invested in both solar and wind farms (see wind power post below) in the next 10 years as companies , private and listed , see the price of electricity in Australia growing bu 7 to 10 percent per year over the next decade. This makes renewable energy an attractive investment with yields likely to be higher that market averages.

Renewable Energy In Australia and The Implementation Of The Carbon Tax