Australian electricity generation report 2008

Electricity generation across Australia’s four eastern states produced one per cent or 1.9 million tonnes more greenhouse gas pollution in 2008, according to this report by The Climate Group. Total electricity generation across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia was 195 million Megawatt hours (MWh) in 2008 and generated 188 million tonnes of greenhouse emissions. Australia’s reliance on large fossil fuel-fired power stations, particularly coal-fired generators, continued to dominate, with the amount of electricity produced by coal increasing by 1.9 per cent in 2008. The top 20 biggest emitting power stations across the four states in 2008 were all coalfired and accounted for more than 90 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation. In total, coal provided 87 per cent of electricity generation in 2008 and produced 95 per cent of the total greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation. Electricity generation from renewable sources increased by 10 per cent during 2008. Despite stronger growth than fossil fuel production in percentage terms, the relative size of the renewable sector, less than 5 per cent of overall generation, means this increase had very little impact on total greenhouse gas emissions