Renewable Energy Generation Increases Across Australia
Renewable energy generation statistics provided by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) for the last three months of 2022 are encouraging, showing records being broken and a continuing trend of increasing grid share.
The AEMO has posted the Quarterly Energy Dynamic Q4 2022 report, revealing an increased renewable energy market share across the country.
David Carroll reported in PV Magazine that over the 2022 October-December period, “Renewable energy provided an average of 40.3% of power in the National Electricity Market (NEM), a record for any quarter since the NEM started in 1998.”
Fall in Generation of Coal-Fired Energy Reported
Across the country, the AEMO reported falls in coal fired energy generation. Renewable energy output derived from solar, wind and hydro increased which offset these falls.
“During the middle of the day, black coal-fired generation levels continued to decline in response to lower operational demand and increased output from grid-scale variable renewable energy (VRE),” detailed the AEMO 2022 Quarterly Energy Dynamic Report.
Increased solar PV energy forms part of the grid-scale renewable energy output described by the AEMO. “Queensland and New South Wales saw large increases in grid-scale solar, setting daytime prices more frequently than in the same quarter last year.”
New Records Set for Renewable Energy Generation
Tim Buckley in Renew Economy remarks that based on the AEMO report, Australia’s green energy transition is well established. He writes: “It is likely the worst is now behind us: coal and gas are in a long structural terminal decline, renewables are booming and pushing expensive, unreliable, polluting coal and gas out.”
A new record was reached for instantaneous penetration of renewable energy in the National Energy Market Regions of eastern Australia. “The instantaneous penetration of renewable energy for the NEM as a proportion of total generation reached 68.7% on 28 October 2022, exceeding the previous record of 64.1% (set on 22 September 2022).”
In Western Australia, new records were also reached for renewable energy generation. “Renewable penetration in Q4 2022 reached an all-time record quarterly share of 42.7% (a 3 percentage point increase from Q4 2021). Several all-time instantaneous renewable penetration records were set during the quarter, the most recent being 84.3% on Monday, 12 December 2022.”
Commercial Solar PV
The Solpod team are excited to see records breaking with the increased uptake of renewable energy in Australia. At the same time, we know that Australia has an enormous responsibility to reduce carbon emissions and meet net zero emissions by 2050.
The commercial and industrial sector has the opportunity now to step up and join the global movement towards sustainability in business.
Daniel Mercer of the ABC recently reported on the renewable energy transition in Australia, interviewing Dylan McConnell, Senior Research Associate from the UNSW. He says that Australia’s adoption of renewable energy is lagging and the rate needs to more than double in quantity.
Solpod has developed innovative solar PV solutions that better serves the needs of business. Our moveable and rentable solar panels make it easy for businesses to adopt renewable energy.
Our solar pods are fully Australian made and manufactured, helping to support the Australian economy and generate local jobs.
It’s now easier than ever for your business to save money and reduce emissions with Solpod solar. Email info@solpod.com.au or call +03 9089 0753.