CANBERRA, Feb 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The Australian government’s infrastructure adviser, listed renewable energy zones and dispatchable energy storage, as priority projects for the first time.
Infrastructure Australia today released its annual Infrastructure Priority List, including 44 new projects, that the agency said, reflected the country’s changing needs in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.
The new proposals represent a combined 59 billion Australian dollars (46.4 billion U.S. dollars) of potential investment.
“We added a record 44 new proposals to the priority list, for consideration by Australia’s governments, across the broad spectrum of transport, energy, water, waste, telecommunications and social infrastructure,” Romilly Madew, chief executive of Infrastructure Australia, said in a media release.
“More than half of the investment opportunities on the 2021 priority list benefit our regional communities, as we continue to draw focus on equitable service delivery and investments, that will deliver affordable and quality infrastructure services for all Australians.”
The report found that, the national electricity market (NEM) required “significant investments in dispatchable energy storage, to support growing renewable energy generation and the future retirement of coal-fired generators.”
It listed hydrogen infrastructure as a priority within the next five years, due to “growing interest in the production and use of green hydrogen as an energy source, as it produces no carbon emissions.”
The federal government identified hydrogen as one of five priority low-emissions technologies for the next 10 years, in its Technology Investment Roadmap, which was released in Sept, 2020.
In addition to renewable energy projects, the agency also added improving the digital connectivity of rural Australia and expanding telehealth services as priorities.– NNN-AGENCIES