What is Australia's renewable energy target?
Australia's federal government aims for renewable sources to supply 82 percent of the country's electricity by 2030. Solar, wind, batteries and hydro are central to the shift away from coal.
For most of the twentieth century, Australia's electricity came mainly from coal. Since the 2010s, renewable energy has grown quickly as prices for solar panels, wind turbines and batteries have fallen.
Rooftop solar is especially popular. Millions of Australian homes have solar panels, giving Australia one of the highest rates of household solar in the world.
Big projects
The Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia, built by Tesla in 2017, was the world's largest lithium-ion battery at the time. Snowy 2.0, a pumped hydro project in the Snowy Mountains, is designed to store energy on a huge scale.
South Australia and Tasmania lead the states. Tasmania's electricity is almost entirely renewable, mostly from hydro power, and South Australia gets much of its power from wind and solar.
As old coal-fired power stations close, new transmission lines are being built to connect renewable energy zones to cities.
Did You Know?
The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, built between 1949 and 1974, employed workers from more than 30 countries.