In a speech to the Australian Energy Week conference on Tuesday, Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) chief Daniel Westerman said renewable energy developments are not being built quickly enough to compensate for the shutdown of coal-fired power stations across the country.
The government has set a goal of about 80 percent of Australia's electricity coming from renewable sources by 2030, which the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) said in May was not on target.
On Tuesday Westerman said coal plants currently supply 60 percent of Australia's power, but their looming closures could put significant pressure on the grid.
He said there is a "strong pipeline" of proposed new wind and solar plants but that it was uncertain if they will materialize.
"This investment is not happening fast enough," Westerman said.
"Bringing these new projects to market and connecting them into the grid urgently is critical to ensuring consumers continue to have reliable power when they need it."
His comments echoed warnings from industry groups such as Clean Energy Council that the renewable energy pipeline is faltering in the race to meet electricity demand.
According to Westerman, there were no new financial commitments for large-scale renewable generation projects in the first three months of 2023.
"One quarter doesn't make a trend, but investment decisions are an important leading indicator for our energy transition," he said.
Australia has set an emissions reduction target of 43 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 and a net-zero target by 2050.
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