Sources of Energy in Melbourne and Across Victoria

Image via WikipediaBy Amber Nichols

When talking about energy sources in the densely populated city of Melbourne and other parts of Victoria, Australia, it is unfortunate to know that the primary source of electricity for the whole state is brown coal.

Brown coal is among the greatest contributors to the greenhouse gas emissions of the country. It is, sad to say, utilized in about 85 percent of the state's total electricity consumption. However, it is also good to know that chief power suppliers in Australia like Red Energy, TRUenergy and Click Energy generate products from natural gas and renewable power including hydro, wind and solar, in an effort to help sustainability in the region.

The Victorian government, working with the environmental advocacy offices of the national government, has put in place programs to aggressively counter its greenhouse gas emissions and help build a more sustainable environment for its people. Among these are rebates on solar and gas hot water systems; GreenPower; Solar Cities; energy ratings; development of renewable energy sources like bioenergy, geothermal and mini hydro; and many other national and local government initiatives.

With the help of power retailers like AGL, Australian Power & Gas and Red Energy, the government is working towards this goal of developing renewable sources of energy. Having alternatives to its usual types of energy supply would decrease their dependence on brown coal. The renewable energy target for the state was set at 10% by the year 2016. That was in 2006. However, this number was recently increased to 25% by 2020.

While hydro power is the most widely generated and used renewable energy in the whole of Australia, it is scarce in Victoria due to the state's very limited water resource. But the government still has been able to generate hydro power for Victoria with the assistance of power suppliers in Melbourne like Red Energy and AGL. Victoria, instead, concentrates on other prime points of power supply, particularly wind farms and solar power stations.

This state is considered as one of the best homes for wind farms in the country. In about a couple of years from now, Victoria will have an additional capacity of 487 MW on top of its existing 428 MW. This number definitely beats the output of its Anglesea Power Station, which runs on brown coal and emits 1.21 million tonnes of greenhouse gases every year.

Roof-mounted solar systems are becoming more and more popular in homes and commercial establishments in Victoria in the recent years. By choosing solar power, consumers can get rebates on electricity rates from Red Energy, TRUenergy and other retailers that support the government's sustainable environment programs.

There is a host of other programs that the government and the industry sectors of Melbourne and Victoria are undertaking. All these are being done with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and have a more sustainable environment not just for the state, but for everyone in the world.

Red Energy Australia is part of Snowy Hydro Limited, a chief provider of hydro power in the National Electricity Market. Visit Switchwise to know more about Red Energy electricity rates and its efforts towards a more sustainable Australia.

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