How the renewable energy transition will drive copper demand

Approximately 10,000km of new transmission infrastructure will be needed to reach 100% renewable energy according to the Australian Energy Market Regulator (AEMO).

In a new report released this week, AEMO outlined the Engineering Framework to reach the first point of 100% renewable penetration.

Our key takeaway from the report is that Australia, and any other countries interested in renewable generation, are going to need A LOT of copper to upgrade the power infrastructure for a renewable energy generation.

Renewable energy like solar, hydro and wind are seldom installed at the same location as fossil fuel generation (wind farms are not built on top of coal mines).

This means that the power generation between a wind farm and a coal fired power station isn’t a ‘straight swap’ of energy.

10,000km of new powerline infrastructure will be needed to be built from the renewable energy sources to the energy grid to maximise energy efficiency.

We expect this to be a major demand driver for copper as the powerline infrastructure upgrades are fast tracked across Australia and other countries who are moving towards renewable energy.

You can read the full report from AEMO here (warning, it’s long):