The Department for Energy and Mining has announced that South Australia was powered on average by 70 per cent renewable energy last financial year.
In a statement, the Department said new data from the OpenNEM (National Energy Market) Report highlighted an uptick of 68.3 per cent in renewables supply last year, an increase of seven per cent from 2020/2021.
“This means more than two thirds of the State’s power came from renewable energy created through wind (45.2 per cent) and solar (23.1 per cent),” the Department said.
It said that throughout the year, records tumbled as the State took advantage of its abundance of wind and solar, including on Easter Sunday (17 April) in the early hours of the morning wind alone supplied 136.6 per cent of electricity demand and in December last year an average of 79.3 per cent of South Australia’s power came from wind and solar.
“Over the six and a half days leading up to 29 December an average of more than 100 per cent of the State’s electricity came from renewables,” it said.
“On 27 November last year 150 per cent of the State’s middle of the day electricity needs were supplied by wind and solar.
“On 28 November last year 110 per cent of the State’s middle of the day electricity needs were supplied by wind and solar.
“On 11 October last year South Australia became the first major power grid globally to run on 100 per cent solar.”
The Department said that as more and more renewable energy projects came online, it was forecast to be an even bigger year in 2022/2023.
The OpenNEM Report can be accessed at this PS News link.
