Rooftop solar share rises to new high in NEM

Data from GPE NEMLog shows that rooftop solar contributed a record 48.8% share of generation in the National Electricity Market (NEM) at 1.25pm on Sunday, surpassing the previous record of 48.4% set on the first day of this month.

Record shares of rooftop solar were also set on Sunday in Victoria, where rooftop PV reached a new high of 60.1% at 12.50pm. Likewise, New South Wales (NSW) also recorded a new high with rooftop solar contributing more than half of its generation for the first time, achieving a record share of 50.5% at 11.45am.

Geoff Eldridge, data analyst at GPE NEMLog, said each record represented a 3% increase from previous figures.

The surge in rooftop PV contributions led to record-low operational demands in both Victoria and NSW, and across the NEM more broadly.

In Victoria, operational demand dropped to a new minimum of 1,915 MW, a decrease of approximately 153 MW from the previous low. In NSW, the largest state grid in the country, operational demand fell to 3,719 MW, down 272 MW from the previous low.

Across the NEM, operating demand plummeted to a new low of 11,009 MW, a decrease of approximately 215 MW from the previous record low set on 1 October 2023.

The surge in rooftop solar and the resultant reduction in overall demand had a flow-on effect for utility scale solar projects. In South Australia, utility scale solar output fell to less than 1 MW during peak solar production as a record 455.8 MW of utility scale solar was curtailed.

The new records are the latest in a string of renewable energy share records in the grid this spring.

On October 24, the share of renewables across the NEM hit a new instantaneous renewable penetration record of 72.5%. At that time, rooftop solar supplied 41.5% of total electricity generated.