From IEEFA
The combination of rooftop and large scale solar met all of South Australia’s demand, and more, during multiple trading intervals on Saturday, highlighting once again the rapid progress of renewables in Australia’s main grid [Note: this does not include wind generation. South Australia is as windy as it is sunny, and could easily provide power for much of Eastern Australia]
South Australia is already a world-leader with an average of more than 62 per cent wind and solar in the past year, and it regularly reaches 100 per cent renewables, usually with the help of its 2GW of installed wind farm capacity.
Last October, for the first time anywhere in the world for a gigawatt-scale grid, solar output accounted for more than 100 per cent of state demand, with the surplus, including some gas and wind generation, exported to Victoria.
On Saturday, solar reached that landmark again, reaching what is likely to be a record peak of 106.1 per cent of state demand at 11.10am, and meeting at least 100 per cent of state demand for nearly an hour.
5 years ago, coal lovers were screeching about how renewables had made South Australia's electricity supply vulnerable to outages. When a storm blew down part of the grid, they blamed wind farms, as if electrons generated by renewables are somehow heavier than those from fossil fuels. Today, SA is an energy exporter to the rest of the east coast, and a new HVDC line connecting SA to NSW will increase this in future.
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| Bungala solar farm, South Australia |
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