The roadmap, released by the national energy regulator on Thursday, called for an "optimal development path" of technologies that will efficiently enable low-cost renewable energy to replace the existing coal generation.
AEMO CEO Daniel Westerman said the plan includes a forecast that Australia's electricity consumption would double by 2050 as transport, heating, cooking and industry processes are electrified. He also noted that by 2030, 60 percent of Australia's coal plants would be phased out.
"To maintain a secure, reliable and affordable electricity supply for consumers through this transition to 2050, investment is required for a nine-fold increase in grid-scale wind and solar capacity, triple the firming capacity (dispatchable storage, hydro and gas-fired generation) and a near five-fold increase in distributed solar."
Peak industry body for Australia's energy sector the Australian Energy Council (AEC) labeled the road-map a "profound energy shift" and said that the rapid decline of coal usage would need to be carefully balanced.
"Transmission has an important role to play, but we need to plan the necessary new transmission carefully," said Chief Executive of AEC Sarah McNamara.
The woes of overstepping the accelerator on phasing out coal have been evidenced this month as Australia's national energy grid reached a near breaking point due to nearly 30 percent of the nation's coal-fired plants facing unexpected closure amid cold weather.
To ensure the stability of the transition, the AEMO would launch an enquiry into five grid connecting projects across Australia's east coast which "should progress as urgently as possible."
The transmission projects were forecast to deliver 28 billion Australian dollars (about 19.2 billion U.S. dollars) in net market benefits, returning 2.2 times their initial investment.
Glenn Walker, senior campaigner of environmental protection group Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said the 30-year plan shows a coming renewable boom, and called on Australia's largest companies to seize the opportunity to invest in the transition.
According to the Australian government's Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, 71 percent of the nation's energy came from fossil fuels in 2021, 12 percent came from solar energy, 10 percent from wind, and the remaining seven percent from other renewable sources.
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