Record-high renewables growth is transforming Australia’s electricity landscape, pushing out coal plants and lowering prices and emissions.
Solar and wind output during the fourth quarter within the five jurisdictions that make up the National Electricity Market (NEM) increased 39 per cent from a year earlier, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) said in its quarterly report.
Bloomberg newsagency reports that helped cut power-generation emissions five per cent to the lowest in data going back to 2001 and slashed wholesale prices by almost a fifth.
“Record variable renewable energy generation growth in 2019 is expected to continue into 2020, as the large amount of new capacity currently being accredited is likely to reach full generation by mid-2020,” AEMO said in the report.
“During December 2019, and into January 2020, extreme heat, generator and transmission line outages, and bushfires tested the NEM power system and led to price volatility.”
The AEMO report said although maximum demands were generally higher across the NEM, average operational demands were lower, due to sunnier than average Q4 conditions coupled with a record amount of rooftop photovoltaic (PV)capacity installed in 2019.
Australia’s conservative Liberal-National Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government has faced increased criticism over its lack of a coherent climate policy following the devastating bushfires that swept across the country this summer.
Over the weekend it confirmed its staunch support of the coal industry in the face of a growing backlash against the fuel by giving financial backing to a study into a new plant.
The government will provide $4 million to support the study into a proposed high efficiency, lower emissions plant at Collinsville.
If it goes ahead, it would be the first coal power station commissioned in the country in over a decade.
“Our plan to unlock investment in new, reliable generation capacity will increase competition, keep the lights on, and lower prices to better support our commercial and industrial sector so they can employ more Australians and remain internationally competitive,” Energy Minister Angus Taylor said in a statement.
Bloomberg reports in Western Australia, which is not part of the national market, a 47 per cent year-on-year increase in wind generation in the quarter outpaced growth in coal and rooftop solar, according to the AEMO report.
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