Because of the variability of wind and solar resources, high shares of wind and solar PV in power supply systems can lead to supply gaps during occasional low-resource periods. Due to their ability to meet demand in a short term, dispatchable renewable energy (RE) resources – biomass, concentrating solar power (CSP) and hydropower – can assist in meeting such supply gaps. In this study, we investigate the spatial and temporal configurations of least-cost 100% renewable power supply in Australia, at various levels of biomass resource use and CSP penetration. To this end, we carry out a high-resolution Geographic Information System (GIS)-based hourly electricity supply-demand matching simulation. We find that, based on the current existing biomass capacity (1.7 GW) installed in Australia, a 100% national RE supply is possible with around 146–148 GW system installed capacity at a levelized cost of electricity (LCoE) of 9–10 US' kWh⁻¹ (95% level of confidence). Under a 5–15 times expansion of biomass, the system capacity would be reduced to around 70–110 GW at an LCoE of 6–8 US' kWh⁻¹. Depending on limitations to the generation from biomass posed by competing land uses, CSP could play an important role in reducing the system capacity to nearly 120 GW.

由于风能和太阳能资源的可变性，电源系统中风能和太阳能PV的高份额可能会导致偶尔的资源短缺时期的供应缺口。由于可短期满足需求的能力，可调度可再生能源（RE）资源-生物质，聚光太阳能（CSP）和水力发电-可以帮助解决此类供应缺口。在这项研究中，我们调查了在生物质资源利用和CSP渗透水平不同的情况下，澳大利亚成本最低的100％可再生电源的时空结构。为此，我们进行了基于高分辨率地理信息系统（GIS）的每小时电力供需匹配模拟。我们发现，根据澳大利亚目前安装的现有生物质发电量（1.7吉瓦），^-1（95％的置信度）。在生物量膨胀5至15倍的情况下，当LCoE为6至8 US'kWh ^-1时，系统容量将减少至70至110 GW左右。取决于竞争性土地用途对生物质发电的限制，CSP可以在将系统容量降低至近120 GW方面发挥重要作用。