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Previously published studies on Australia's energy security did not examine the country's domestic energy security situation in tandem with its international energy statecraft. This paper fills this research gap. In order to provide a robust analysis of a country's strategic options in the energy sector, it is paramount to balance domestic and international dimensions, along with internal and external factors. The paper utilizes the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) method to review Australia's strategic options by balancing the inward-looking, domestic risk minimization dimension (energy security), with the outward-looking, international power projection dimension (energy statecraft). The paper also applies the 4A framework (availability, accessibility, affordability, and acceptance) to assess Australia's energy security performance. On the one hand, the results demonstrate that Australia has many strengths and opportunities as a reliable and stable energy supplier, endowed with traditional and renewable energy resources, and critical minerals. On the other hand, numerous internal weaknesses and external threats may affect Australia's strategic options in the future. The most pressing issue is the historical lack of strategic government intervention in the energy market, which has, paradoxically, resulted in domestic energy accessibility and affordability crisis. The market-based approach is also the main reason why Australia has not transformed its energy resources into capabilities to be used as instruments of statecraft. The paper uses the SWOT analysis and the 4A assessment as the basis for discussion on how Australia can transform its energy sector weaknesses and threats into strengths and opportunities, to benefit the national interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant contribution to the reduction of carbon emissions will be enabled through the transition from a centralised fossil fuel system to a decentralised, renewable electricity system. However, due to the intermittent nature of renewable energy, storage is required to provide a suitable response to dynamic loads and manage the excess generated electricity with utilisation during periods of low generation. This paper investigates the use of stationary hydrogen-based energy storage systems for microgrids and distributed energy resource systems. An exploratory study was conducted in Australia based on a mixed methodology. Ten Australian industry experts were interviewed to determine use cases for hydrogen-based energy storage systems' requirements, barriers, methods, and recommendations. This study suggests that the current cost of the electrolyser, fuel cell, and storage medium, and the current low round-trip efficiency, are the main elements inhibiting hydrogen-based energy storage systems. Limited industry and practical experience are barriers to the implementation of hydrogen storage systems. Government support could help scale hydrogen-based energy storage systems among early adopters and enablers. Furthermore, collaboration and knowledge sharing could reduce risks, allowing the involvement of more stakeholders. Competition and innovation could ultimately reduce the costs, increasing the uptake of hydrogen storage systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a critical study of current Australian and leading international policies aimed at supporting electrical energy storage for stationary power applications with a focus on battery and hydrogen storage technologies. It demonstrates that global leaders such as Germany and the U.S. are actively taking steps to support energy storage technologies through policy and regulatory change. This is principally to integrate increasing amounts of intermittent renewable energy (wind and solar) that will be required to meet high renewable energy targets. The relevance of this to the Australian energy market is that whilst it is unique, it does have aspects in common with the energy markets of these global leaders. This includes regions of high concentrations of intermittent renewable energy (Texas and California) and high penetration rates of residential solar photovoltaics (PV) (Germany). Therefore, Australian policy makers have a good opportunity to observe what is working in an international context to support energy storage. These learnings can then be used to help shape future policy directions and guide Australia along the path to a sustainable energy future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite considerable mitigation efforts, global emissions from the electricity sector continued to grow in recent years. In Australia, the electricity sector is the largest CO 2 -emitting industry, contributing 35% of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions. The Australian government targets an 80% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 relative to 2010. With a large variety and quantity of renewable energy resources, it is technically feasible and seems indispensable that Australia's electricity sector be largely decarbonised by 2050 in order to achieve this target. In this paper, scenario-based hybrid Life-Cycle Assessment is applied to calculate the economy-wide carbon footprints of seven electricity generation technologies in scenarios with differing renewable electricity penetration. This work is the first to apply a full life-cycle approach to scenario analysis of electricity generation in Australia. The findings are at the higher end of previously reported carbon footprint intensity ranges and above median values. However, even when taking into account indirect emissions along the technologies' life-cycles, the results indicate that the employment of different renewable energy technologies can potentially save a considerable fraction of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. This makes renewables an essential option for climate change mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]