Advertisement

SA takes foot off gas as renewables rise

Renewable energy provided almost 70 per cent of South Australia’s electricity needs in the 12 months to the end of June following an increase in solar and wind generation and a reduction in gas-fired production.

Jul 12, 2022, updated Jul 12, 2022
Photo : AAP

Photo : AAP

The Open National Energy Market Report also reveals that on some days, SA’s solar and wind resources provided more power than the state needed, including 150 per cent of its requirements on November 27 last year.

“These results show that there is no doubt that South Australia continues its leadership in renewable energy,” Deputy Premier Susan Close said today.

“Wind and solar coupled with the new green hydrogen industry will see our state lead the way in decarbonisation and lower power prices for all South Australians.

“South Australia’s aspirational goal towards carbon neutrality is now within reach.”

The market report indicates that, on average, 68.3 per cent of SA’s daily power needs were supplied by wind and solar in 2021/22.

That was up seven percentage points on the previous financial year.

There was also a six-day period leading up to December 29 when renewables provided more than 100 per cent of the electricity used while on October 11 last year the state’s power grid was powered completely by solar.

In February, listed energy provider AGL revealed it produced more electricity from wind generation in South Australia than gas in the first half of the financial year for the first time.

This coincided with the mothballing of the first of four gas-fired 200MW ‘B’units at its Torrens Island power plant in October.

The company, which operates the Hallett wind farm in the state’s Mid North and Wattle Point wind farm near Edithburgh on Yorke Peninsula, has also begun construction of its 250MW grid-scale battery at Torrens Island.

It is also looking to establish a green hydrogen production hub at Torrens Island.

The state government is planning to build a $593 million hydrogen power plant near Whyalla, a key plank of its Hydrogen Jobs Plan, which it took to the March election.

The project is set to include a 250MWe hydrogen electrolyser, a 200MW combined cycle gas turbine generator principally fuelled by hydrogen and a 3600-tonne hydrogen storage facility that will equate to one of the world’s biggest hydrogen power plants.

The plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2025.

Close said that with $30 billion in planning and development around renewables, including hydrogen, SA’s use of green energy was expected to grow further during the next 12 months.

“We will supply South Australians with affordable, clean, green energy, with enough left over to export to other countries, providing additional income streams for our state,” she said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged greater investment in renewable energy throughout the Indo-Pacific as a means of addressing climate and economic issues.

In a speech at the Sydney Energy Forum this morning, Albanese called for more people in the sector to work together on clean energy investments in a bid to help reach net-zero targets.

He said it would be critical for investment to increase across the region in the sector, to limit the effects of climate change.

“It is essential that the unprecedented levels of investment in clean energy technologies required over the coming decades unlocks more diverse and secure supply chains than we have today,” the prime minister said.

“Together, we can ensure better access to affordable, reliable and secure clean energy right across the Indo-Pacific as we move to a net-zero world.”

The Indo-Pacific region accounted for 80 per cent of private investment globally in clean energy in 2021.

“This will only increase because if the world is to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, our investment in clean energy must more than triple,” Albanese said.

“Meeting this demand will require a renewable energy supply around six times greater than our region’s current annual solar and wind energy generation. The numbers shouldn’t daunt us. They should energise us.”

The focus on the Indo-Pacific in the address comes as the prime minister prepares to fly to Fiji on Wednesday for the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva.

The forum will have climate change high on the agenda.

 – With AAP

Local News Matters
Advertisement
Copyright © 2024 InDaily.
All rights reserved.