Indicator assessment
CONDITION
TREND
DATA QUALITY
Because of the lack of ACT-only data for other energy sources, this assessment is limited to electricity consumption and generation.
The ACT reached its 100% renewable electricity supply target in 2020. Despite population growth, electricity consumption has remained stable reflecting an ongoing decline in per capita usage.
CONDITION
Environmental condition is healthy across the ACT, OR pressure likely to have negligible impact on environmental condition/human health.
Environmental condition is neither positive or negative and may be variable across the ACT, OR pressure likely to have limited impact on environmental condition/human health.
Environmental condition is under significant stress, OR pressure likely to have significant impact on environmental condition/ human health.
Data is insufficient to make an assessment of status and trends.
TREND
DATA QUALITY
Adequate high-quality evidence and high level of consensus.
Limited evidence or limited consensus.
Evidence and consensus too low to make an assessment.
Assessments of status, trends and data quality are not appropriate for the indicator.
Introduction
For information on this indicator see Background: Human Settlements.
This indicator assesses ACT’s energy use. For greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution resulting from energy generation and use, see Climate change and Air.
It was not possible to obtain accurate data on the ACT’s energy use for fuel other than for electricity. This is mostly because non-electricity energy is unavailable for the ACT alone, for example, natural gas use for the ACT also includes Queanbeyan. Consequently, petroleum and other fuel types are not reported here due to data accuracy concerns. It was also not possible to obtain data on energy use by sector. These are key data gaps which prevent a comprehensive assessment of the ACT’s energy use and generation.
The importance of more comprehensive energy use data is demonstrated by the growing contribution of transport fuels to the ACT’s greenhouse gas emissions and the nearly doubling of diesel emissions from 2012–13 to 2021–22 which now contribute 40% of total transport emissions. (see Climate change – Indicator CC3: Greenhouse gas emissions). In addition, 24% of the ACT’s greenhouse gas emissions come from non-electricity stationary energy. Consequently, improved energy use data will be vital for future reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in the ACT.
Electricity consumption
Total electricity demand for the ACT is relatively stable, despite population growth (Figure 10). This is due to reductions in electricity consumption per capita which decreased by 16% between 2012–13 and 2021–22. Per capita electricity use has also decreased annually since 2012–13, except in 2021–22 which saw a slight increase on the previous year. This decrease is likely due to a stronger focus on energy efficiency such as the uptake of energy efficient appliances, as well as general efforts to moderate electricity use and consumer response to price rises. Further reductions in per capita energy use will be important to offset future population growth and to limit the burden on energy supply.
Figure 10: ACT total and per capita (right axis) electricity demand, 2012–13 to 2021–22.
Data sourced from: Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate.
Renewable electricity
The ACT reached its 100% renewable electricity supply target in 2020. This was achieved through the purchase of renewable energy to meet the ACT’s electricity demand, including the need to offset any non-renewable energy used. The ACT was the first jurisdiction in Australia, and the eighth jurisdiction globally with a population over 100,000, to achieve the transition from an electricity supply based largely on fossil fuels to procuring renewable generation equivalent to 100% of its consumption.[1] In addition, the ACT was the first jurisdiction outside Europe to achieve 100% renewable electricity.
In 2021–22, wind farms supplied around 68% of the ACT’s renewable electricity (Figure 11). The ACT Government’s mandatory contribution to the national large-scale renewable energy target accounted for around 19% of ACT’s renewable electricity, with the ACT share of NSW Below Baseline Generation contributing around another 4%.
Figure 11: Sources of renewable electricity generation for the ACT, 2021–22.
Data sourced from: Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate.
Rooftop solar generation contributes around 7% of renewable electricity and has increased annually, nearly trebling between 2015–16 and 2021–22. In comparison, large solar farms only contributed around 2% of the ACT’s renewable electricity, this shows the high value and potential of urban rooftop solar for the generation of renewable electricity generation.
The only renewable electricity generated in the ACT comes from solar farm and rooftop solar generation (Figure 12). The bulk of the power from wind farms and the national renewable energy target are sourced from outside the ACT. There are currently seven wind farms, two in South Australia, three in Victoria, and two in NSW.
Figure 12: Location of the ACT’s wind and solar farms supplying the National Electricity Market.
Source: Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate.
Natural gas consumption
The natural gas consumption data reported here also includes Queanbeyan. Consequently, findings should be viewed with caution because it is unclear to what extent the Queanbeyan community impacts the overall gas use trends.
With 27% of the ACT’s greenhouse gas emissions coming from stationary energy (around 85% of which come from natural gas combustion) it is increasingly important that the use of gas is reduced in the ACT to meet greenhouse gas targets as well as to meet the ACT Government target to cease the supply of natural gas by 2045.
Natural gas use has not decreased since 2012–13 with annual variations which are most likely related to the demand for heating in colder winters (Figure 13). However, there was an annual decline in gas use from 2106–17 to 2019–20 before an increase in 2020–21 and 2021–22. This increase may be in response to COVID-19 restrictions and the increased uptake of working from home arrangements.
Figure 13: Total and sector natural gas use in the ACT and Queanbeyan, 2012–13 to 2021–22.
Data sourced from: Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate.
Note: Natural gas use was not available for the ACT only.
In 2021–22, residential gas use accounted for 65% of natural gas use, with the commercial and industrial sectors using around 19% and 15% respectively. This means that significant reductions in natural gas use can be achieved through the replacement of household gas appliances with electric ones.
One of the reasons for the continued high use of natural gas in the ACT is the number of residential gas customers which has been increasing annually since 2012–13, although the rate of annual increase is slowing. However, it is unclear to what extent customer increases are being driven by the uptake of natural gas by the Queanbeyan community. In the ACT, around 80% of new houses and 30% of new townhouse and apartments have natural gas connections, this has occurred despite the ACT Government target to cease the supply of natural gas by 2045.
Data gaps
Data on the ACT’s energy use is not sufficient to enable a comprehensive assessment of the ACT’s energy generation and consumption. This includes a lack of ACT-only data on energy consumption for fuel types other than for electricity, and the consumption of energy types by sector.
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