South Australia (SA), the nation’s traditional renewable energy leader, has once again demonstrated community support for renewable energy. Overwhelming support for the 100% RET by 2030 has been reported in the latest polling. More than two thirds of those surveyed (69%) said they were in favor of the target regardless of their political affiliation, finds The Australia Institute (TAI).
TAI surveyed a state representative sample of 624 South Australians about which policy proposals they supported, and weighted the results to match SA demographics. The figure below shows that the majority of those polled support a RET of 100% by 2030.
“It’s important for our political leaders to understand that, with the next Federal Election just a handful of weeks away, South Australians have said in no uncertain terms that they support 100% renewable energy,” said Noah Schultz-Byard, The Australia Institute’s SA projects manager.
The findings also show that more people were undecided on the issues (17%) than the total of those who opposed the target (14%).
Interestingly, the majority support for 100% renewable energy in SA cuts across party lines, with Coalition, Labor, Greens and One Nation voters all backing the policy. The figure below below breaks the figures down into categories based on who they intend on voting for at the next election.
South Australia’s Energy Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan said last year that the state was on track to meet the previous government’s target of 75% renewable energy by 2025. The target was set by former Labor SA premier Jay Weatherill during the March 2018 election campaign, with nearly 50% achieved at that stage.
Last year, the Australian Energy Market Operator projected South Australia would have 73% renewable power by 2020/21 and consultants Green Energy Markets found it could reach 74% by 2025 without any additional policies.
According to the latest data from the OpenNEM for the week ending on March 24, the contribution of renewables to South Australia’s demand stood at 39.9%.
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