There should be no wonder, with its vast expanses of open, untouched sun-scorched and wind-raked outback, that Australia aims to be a world leader in renewable energy development.

“The Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan,” released earlier this month by Melbourne University, the Beyond Zero Emissions group, and Sinclair Knight Merz engineers, calls for the country to use 100 percent renewables 10 years from now—a lofty goal.

Currently, Australia produces more CO2 emissions per capita than any other country in the Southern Hemisphere, just about as much as the United States, according to the report.

The plan suggests Australia could get 60 percent of its energy from solar sources and 40 percent from wind by building12 giant solar thermal plants and 23 wind farms.

The government passed more conservative legislation in June that puts the country on track to get 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Currently, Australia only gets about 6 percent of its energy from solar, wind, hydroelectric and geothermal sources, according to an August New York Times article.

Australia has made plans in the last three months to build both the largest wind farm and the largest solar plant in the Southern Hemisphere.

A.G.L. Energy, Australia’s largest commercial energy provider, and New Zealand’s state-owned Meridian Energy announced earlier this month that they would build the largest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere.

This comes after plans for the largest solar thermal plant in the Southern Hemisphere were announced in May.

The $320 million solar project is to be constructed in the South Australian steel city of Whyalla. United States-based National Power received a $60 million grant earlier this year from the Australian government to start work on the plant expected to be complete by 2012.

U.S.-based National Power has teamed up with Adelaide’s Wizard Solar to develop the solar dish project.

The advantage of the dish technology is that they can follow the sun wherever it moves in the sky, optimizing energy production. The plant in Whyalla will have 30 dishes that will be 82 feet in diameter. The project is expected to generate 40 megawatts of power, enough for about 480,000 Australian households.

The Whyalla plant is just the first of several proposed projects in a country with the highest average solar radiation in the world.