Last year with more than 62 percent wind and solar, South Australia has established itself as a global powerhouse. It consistently achieves 100 percent renewables, owing to its 2GW of installed wind farm capacity.
Last October, solar output exceeded over 100 percent of state demand for the first time on a gigawatt-scale system, which included some gas and wind energy being supplied to Victoria.
On Saturday, solar topped that mark once more, supplying 106.1 percent of state demand at 11:10 a.m. and exceeding 100 percent of state demand for nearly an hour. Rooftop solar energy achieved a peak of 88.7% of demand at 1.40pm (grid time), with a total production of 1134MW.
However, due to the lower pricing, the state’s main solar farms at Bungala and Tailem Bend had curtailed their output at this point. They were almost at full capacity earlier in the day when the total solar output set a new record of 106.1 percent.
The solar share of 88.7 percent is unquestionably a record. Furthermore, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator, rooftop solar could meet 100 percent of state demand this spring (when temperatures are still moderate and air conditioning is used minimally), establishing yet another record.
According to AEMO, the sunny weather was likely to result in another low for minimum demand on Friday. It dropped to a new low of 236MW last week. Let’s see if this occurs, as well as what other records are set throughout the weekend.