Looking back

After a leisurely break over the holiday period, I have returned to my desk to get right back into the analysis of what I think will be a pretty exciting year for the NEM. Connection difficulties, commissioning delays and stubbornly high storage costs point to uncertainty on the supply side, while strong rooftop uptake continues to whittle out daytime operational demand.

The Australia Institute’s ‘National Energy Emissions Audit Electricity Update’ for July shows solar and wind generation is growing fastest in New South Wales, closely followed by Victoria; and it offers an historical twist on the country’s energy transition.

South Australia’s coal-fired electricity industry is in its final chapter with the sale of the 65-year-old Port Augusta power station site expected to reach settlement by the end of the month.

A new report analyzing the world’s largest lithium-ion battery’s performance in the first year of operation shows the Hornsdale Power Reserve has delivered on high expectations of its performance and market impact. It has helped stabilize the grid, avoid outages and reduce system costs, as well as triggered a surge in uptake of similar fast response systems across Australia.

The Clean Energy Regulator says that around half of the six million modules expected to be installed on Australian rooftops this year will be covered by its new Solar Panel Validation scheme. The agency’s General Manager of the SRES program Michelle Crosbie spoke to pv magazine Australia about the program and the “full suite” of tools at the regulator’s disposal when it comes to compliance under the SRES. 

Owing to its state-based renewable energy initiatives, Victoria is in the box seat to create more than 6,000 jobs annually, shows a new analysis released by Green Energy Markets. Overall, renewable energy generation managed to exceed 25% of power supply for the first time across Australia’s main grids.   

The addition of 7,200 MW of large-scale renewable energy supply since the closure of coal-fired power plants in 2016 in expected to almost halve wholesale electricity price over the next four years, shows the latest analysis from Green Energy Markets.

Looking back on the 2017-18 financial year, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has confirmed it provided $1.1 billion towards renewable energy projects, including 10 large-scale solar projects.

The Australian Energy Market Operator’s wide-ranging and detailed Integrated System Plan prompted a flurry of media reactions that boil down to two conflicting interpretations of its purpose. Some interpreted the findings as a call to hold on tight to coal-fired power, while others a remarkable confirmation that renewables are the optimal electricity source of the future, and high penetrations are both practicable and cost effective.

The 15 MW Sunshine Coast Solar Farm at Valdora, Queensland, has far exceeded savings expectations in its first year of operation while offsetting 100% of the local council’s energy usage across all facilities and operations.