National and State Renewable Energy stats

[Vostok]

A little belatedly, here are the stats for December.

We hit 30% renewable generation nationally! And wind was 40% of that. SA an impressive 73% (noting no hydro in SA).

Renewable energy generation for December - average for the month:

• National - 30.0%
• TAS - 99.8%
• SA - 73.2%
• WA - 36.5%
• VIC - 28.9%
• NSW - 26.1%
• QLD - 15.1%

Peak renewable generation for December - and time of occurrence:

• National - 51.3% on 06 Dec 11:45
• TAS - 100.0% on many occasions
  
• SA - 89.1% on 17 Dec 14:30
• WA - 68.5% on 28 Dec 12:15
• NSW - 55.1% on 12 Dec 12:15
• VIC - 51.5% on 10 Dec 12:45
• QLD - 41.2% on 28 Dec 11:15

Small Scale / Rooftop solar as a proportion of all generation for December - invisible to AEMO:

• National - 8.6%
• SA - 19.7%
• WA - 15.6%
• VIC - 8.1%
• QLD - 6.9%
• NSW - 6.6%
• TAS - 3.5%

Renewable mix for December - solar includes small-scale solar, hydro includes pumped hydro:

• National - Wind: 40.0%, Solar: 43.6%, Hydro: 16.4%
• NSW - Wind: 31.1%, Solar: 47.2%, Hydro: 21.7%
• QLD - Wind: 15.3%, Solar: 81.2%, Hydro: 3.5%
• SA - Wind: 64.3%, Solar: 35.7%, Hydro: 0.0%
• TAS - Wind: 25.9%, Solar: 3.6%, Hydro: 70.6%
• VIC - Wind: 53.6%, Solar: 38.7%, Hydro: 7.7%
• WA - Wind: 52.7%, Solar: 47.3%, Hydro: 0.0%

 

[Vostok]

The stats for January. Is there still interest, or are people happy to just look at opennem.org.au and see this stuff in real-time (although not quite as neatly summarised and ranked).

A new record for national peak renewable generation of 54.3%.

Renewable energy generation for January - average for the month:

• National - 29.9%
• TAS - 99.7%
• SA - 72.4%
• WA - 35.0%
• VIC - 30.3%
• NSW - 24.4%
• QLD - 17.1%

Peak renewable generation for January - and time of occurrence:

• National - 54.3% on 5 Jan 13:15
• TAS - 100.0% on many occasions
• SA - 89.7% on 29 Jan 14:45
• WA - 71.4% on 13 Jan 13:45
• VIC - 56.5% on 19 Jan 13:45
• NSW - 53.7% on 16 Jan 13:30
• QLD - 41.3% on 23 Jan 13:30

Small Scale / Rooftop solar as a proportion of all generation for January - invisible to AEMO:

• National - 8.5%
• SA - 19.8%
• WA - 14.0%
• QLD - 7.5%
• VIC - 7.3%
• NSW - 7.0%
• TAS - 4.1%

Renewable mix for January - solar includes small-scale solar, hydro includes pumped hydro:

• National - Wind: 38.7%, Solar: 43.3%, Hydro: 17.9%
• NSW - Wind: 30.0%, Solar: 51.3%, Hydro: 18.7%
• QLD - Wind: 15.1%, Solar: 73.8%, Hydro: 11.1%
• SA - Wind: 62.0%, Solar: 38.0%, Hydro: 0.0%
• TAS - Wind: 24.4%, Solar: 4.1%, Hydro: 71.5%
• VIC - Wind: 49.5%, Solar: 34.6%, Hydro: 15.8%
• WA - Wind: 54.8%, Solar: 45.2%, Hydro: 0.0%

 

[Anubis]

Is there still interest,

I'm interested.
I don't go to OpenNEM in my normal travels, so it's good to have them listed here once a month.
Of course, if it's a lot of work for you, feel free to stop.

Renewable energy generation for January - average for the month:

• National - 29.9%

Interesting... down 0.1% from December for the national average. This is the first time it has gone lower than the previous month since July '20. Does this mean summer is already over. <grin>

 

[Hairyman]

@Vostok if you are happy to continue, I find these summaries quite interesting.

 

[Vostok]

The peak of summer has passed... but Tassie ran on renewables for the entire month of February. I’d have to check the stats in detail to see if it was between 99.95% and 99.99% and it just got rounded up to 100.

Renewable energy generation for February - average for the month:

• National - 29.4%
• TAS - 100.0%
• SA - 72.6%
• WA - 36.3%
• VIC - 28.1%
• NSW - 24.4%
• QLD - 16.1%

Peak renewable generation for February - and time of occurrence:

• National - 48.9% on 22 Feb 12:15
• TAS - 100.0%
• SA - 90.4% on 19 Feb 09:45
• WA - 69.6% on 18 Feb 17:15
• NSW - 49.4% on 15 Feb 10:45
• VIC - 49.3% on 22 Feb 12:15
• QLD - 42.2% on 21 Feb 11:00

Small Scale / Rooftop solar as a proportion of all generation for February - invisible to AEMO:

• National - 8.2%
• SA - 19.7%
• WA - 13.8%
• QLD - 7.4%
• NSW - 6.8%
• VIC - 6.8%
• TAS - 3.7%

Renewable mix for February - solar includes small-scale solar, hydro includes pumped hydro:

• National - Wind: 37.5%, Solar: 43.2%, Hydro: 19.3%
• NSW - Wind: 31.3%, Solar: 51.4%, Hydro: 17.3%
• QLD - Wind: 11.8%, Solar: 78.0%, Hydro: 10.2%
• SA - Wind: 63.4%, Solar: 36.6%, Hydro: 0.0%
• TAS - Wind: 20.8%, Solar: 3.7%, Hydro: 75.5%
• VIC - Wind: 45.5%, Solar: 36.1%, Hydro: 18.4%
• WA - Wind: 57.4%, Solar: 42.6%, Hydro: 0.0%

 

[Vostok]

Renewable energy generation for March - average for the month:

• National - 28.9%
• TAS - 99.9%
• SA - 69.3%
• WA - 30.8%
• VIC - 27.6%
• NSW - 24.1%
• QLD - 16.0%

Peak renewable generation for March - and time of occurrence:

• National - 52.1% on 27 Mar 13:15
• TAS - 100.0% on many occasions
• SA - 91.4% on 23 Mar 15:15
• WA - 78.1% on 13 Mar 12:45
• NSW - 51.8% on 27 Mar 11:45
• VIC - 51.1% on 27 Mar 13:15
• QLD - 46.2% on 25 Mar 11:00

Small Scale / Rooftop solar as a proportion of all generation for March- invisible to AEMO:

• National - 7.4%
• SA - 21.0%
• WA - 12.2%
• QLD - 6.6%
• NSW - 6.2%
• VIC - 5.5%
• TAS - 2.6%

Renewable mix for March - solar includes small-scale solar, hydro includes pumped hydro:

• National - Wind: 37.2%, Solar: 40.0%, Hydro: 22.8%
• NSW - Wind: 36.6%, Solar: 47.6%, Hydro: 15.8%
• QLD - Wind: 16.3%, Solar: 73.9%, Hydro: 9.8%
• SA - Wind: 60.9%, Solar: 39.1%, Hydro: 0.0%
• TAS - Wind: 20.3%, Solar: 2.6%, Hydro: 77.2%
• VIC - Wind: 42.8%, Solar: 30.9%, Hydro: 26.3%
• WA - Wind: 55.3%, Solar: 44.7%, Hydro: 0.0%

 

[Vostok]

By the way, Tassie’s renewable percentage in February was 99.954%, which got rounded up to 100% in my report. Only 291 MWh of gas used during the month, against 473,883 MWh of hydro, 130,426 MWh of wind, and 23,059 MWh of solar.

 

[Vostok]

Even though the national renewable generation percentage was down from 28.9% to 27.9% for April, a new national renewable peak record of 55.5% was set on 10 April. SA and WA down quite a lot this month, but fairly stable for all the other states. VIC even went up a smidge.

Renewable energy generation for April - average for the month:

• National - 27.9%
• TAS - 99.8%
• SA - 56.4%
• VIC - 27.8%
• WA - 22.5%
• NSW - 22.4%
• QLD - 15.7%

Peak renewable generation for April - and time of occurrence:

• National - 55.5% on 10 Apr 11:45
• TAS - 100.0% on many occasions
• SA - 93.4% on 14 Apr 13:45
• WA - 67.4% on 10 Apr 12:45
• NSW - 59.5% on 11 Apr 11:45
• VIC - 56.9% on 03 Apr 12:45
• QLD - 46.3% on 10 Apr 11:45

Small Scale / Rooftop solar as a proportion of all generation for April - invisible to AEMO:

• National - 7.0%
• SA - 16.1%
• WA - 10.9%
• NSW - 7.0%
• QLD - 6.8%
• VIC - 5.0%
• TAS - 1.5%

Renewable mix for April - solar includes small-scale solar, hydro includes pumped hydro:

• National - Wind: 33.6%, Solar: 39.5%, Hydro: 26.9%
• NSW - Wind: 29.7%, Solar: 55.3%, Hydro: 14.9%
• QLD - Wind: 16.7%, Solar: 70.9%, Hydro: 12.4%
• SA - Wind: 59.4%, Solar: 40.6%, Hydro: 0.0%
• TAS - Wind: 18.7%, Solar: 1.5%, Hydro: 79.7%
• VIC - Wind: 47.6%, Solar: 29.0%, Hydro: 23.3%
• WA - Wind: 45.6%, Solar: 54.4%, Hydro: 0.0%

 

[Vostok]

As we slide into winter the renewable percentage has dropped a bit again (down 0.6%) but the peak is still above 50% so yay for that, and the average is 1% higher than for the same time last year. Rooftop and grid solar contribution has dropped a lot - lots of cloudy days nationwide in May.

Renewable energy generation for May - average for the month:

• National - 27.3%
• TAS - 99.2%
• SA - 55.0%
• VIC - 28.0%
• WA - 22.6%
• NSW - 20.3%
• QLD - 15.8%

Peak renewable generation for May - and time of occurrence:

• National - 50.5% on 13 May 12:30
• TAS - 100.0% on many occasions
• SA - 88.6% on 01 May 14:45
• WA - 62.6% on 13 May 14:30
• VIC - 48.8% on 19 May 13:00
• NSW - 48.5% on 16 May 13:45
• QLD - 46.9% on 28 May 12:00

Small Scale / Rooftop solar as a proportion of all generation for May - invisible to AEMO:

• National - 4.8%
• SA - 7.9%
• WA - 7.4%
• QLD - 5.9%
• NSW - 4.3%
• VIC - 3.4%
• TAS - 0.9%

Renewable mix for May - solar includes small-scale solar, hydro includes pumped hydro:

• National - Wind: 40.7%, Solar: 29.8%, Hydro: 29.5%
• NSW - Wind: 31.1%, Solar: 41.2%, Hydro: 27.7%
• QLD - Wind: 19.4%, Solar: 67.3%, Hydro: 13.3%
• SA - Wind: 78.2%, Solar: 21.8%, Hydro: 0.0%
• TAS - Wind: 16.0%, Solar: 0.9%, Hydro: 83.0%
• VIC - Wind: 59.9%, Solar: 19.7%, Hydro: 20.3%
• WA - Wind: 63.2%, Solar: 36.8%, Hydro: 0.0%

 

[PC__LoadLetter]

We're getting a taste of life after coal. Wholesale prices are going insane and the gas peakers are cashing in bigtime. I'm getting very few cheap hours to charge my car overnight just now. Even daytime today is expensive. It's a good thing I have the adapter to use the $2.50/15min CCS1 charger nearby. I just have to work out at what price point it's cheaper than paying these exorbitant post-coal rates at home.

 

[cafz]

It's a good thing I have the adapter to use the $2.50/15min CCS1 charger nearby. I just have to work out at what price point it's cheaper than paying these exorbitant post-coal rates at home.

25c/kWh is the cost if it'll average 40kW. Add a few cents fudge factor to account for the kW spent getting to and from the charger, probably not worth your while until you can't get under 30c/kWh at home.

In Queanbeyan can't you get on the Powershop EV Plan (Essential Energy as distributor)? Even the peak on that plan is 29c and there's a super off peak between midnight and 4am that's 8c.

 

[paulp]

We now have the problem in SA that the network can no longer deal with days where the renewables make more power than the state can consume. The operator is now turning off solar to try and deal with it. The SA-NSW interconnector funding was confirmed yesterday and it should be working in 2023, so we can offload all those spare renewables and hopefully get some better power offers.

 

[Vostok]

We're getting a taste of life after coal. Wholesale prices are going insane and the gas peakers are cashing in bigtime. I'm getting very few cheap hours to charge my car overnight just now. Even daytime today is expensive. It's a good thing I have the adapter to use the $2.50/15min CCS1 charger nearby. I just have to work out at what price point it's cheaper than paying these exorbitant post-coal rates at home.

We are getting a taste of life after coal, and it’s great! Gas peakers currently have a role, but that will diminish as the statistics of distributed renewable generation push them further down the probability curve - they will simply be needed less and less often. The $600m gas peaker the Feds are burning our taxpayers money on is only expected to operate for a sum total of 8 days a year, and frankly by the time it is built even that might be optimistic.

We’re also going through a transition while there is a renewable energy policy vacuum at the Federal level. They even turned against their own policy (the NEG) which would have helped the orderly transition process, even though it did not price emissions.

But there’s little doubt that removal of fossil generation from the grid will ultimately lead to lower cost electricity for consumers. Nothing will beat free fuel and very low operational costs. And with the right policy settings, more reliability. You’d be surprised how often coal-fired turbines fail and go offline. One in QLD even blew up last week.

I have solar panels on my roof and a Powerwall. My average price for grid power I’ve consumed over the past 12 months is 15.78 c/kWh, and that’s including the 100% Green Power premium. And I have a pretty small solar array compared to most here, and don’t export much.

 

[Vostok]

We now have the problem in SA that the network can no longer deal with days where the renewables make more power than the state can consume. The operator is now turning off solar to try and deal with it. The SA-NSW interconnector funding was confirmed yesterday and it should be working in 2023, so we can offload all those spare renewables and hopefully get some better power offers.

SA often exports a lot of power during the day to VIC, so being able to also do that with NSW will be very good for SA generators.

It would not be unreasonable for all future inverters installed on rooftop solar arrays be “smart grid connected” and the grid operator be able to dial the export down if required to maintain grid stability, rather than simply having voltage rise triggers that shut them down completely. It shouldn’t be all or nothing.

That would probably also spur more battery uptake - both individual and community - as people would prefer that power to not “go to waste” but be stored somewhere for later use.

 

[paulp]

SA often exports a lot of power during the day to VIC, so being able to also do that with NSW will be very good for SA generators.

It would not be unreasonable for all future inverters installed on rooftop solar arrays be “smart grid connected” and the grid operator be able to dial the export down if required to maintain grid stability, rather than simply having voltage rise triggers that shut them down completely. It shouldn’t be all or nothing.

That would probably also spur more battery uptake - both individual and community - as people would prefer that power to not “go to waste” but be stored somewhere for later use.

The problem in SA is the stupid rules. If you have single phase the maximum solar you can have is 5kw. (3 phase is 30kw) But the problem is then storage. Any battery is included in the 5 or 30kw so if you have already maxed out your solar you cannot have batteries to minimise exporting…..which is what the grid needs. I was able to get special approval for exceeding the maximum system size once they worked out its better for the grid to have batteries, and I had to install a special device to prevent export in an outage…..even though the solar and battery systems already do that. The smart zappi charger should help reduce those exports even more.

 

[Vostok]

The problem in SA is the stupid rules. If you have single phase the maximum solar you can have is 5kw. (3 phase is 30kw) But the problem is then storage. Any battery is included in the 5 or 30kw so if you have already maxed out your solar you cannot have batteries to minimise exporting…..which is what the grid needs. I was able to get special approval for exceeding the maximum system size once they worked out its better for the grid to have batteries, and I had to install a special device to prevent export in an outage…..even though the solar and battery systems already do that. The smart zappi charger should help reduce those exports even more.

In NSW, for Ausgrid at least, it is 10 kW per phase.

Doesn’t PW2 automatically prevent export in an outage?

Sydney has very low solar penetration so maybe Ausgrid doesn’t care as much. Turns out the wealthiest suburbs in Sydney have the lowest rooftop solar penetration in the state. At the end of 2019, the Woollahra LGA (eastern suburbs of Sydney, which has Australia’s most expensive houses and highest average household income) has the lowest rooftop solar penetration in the state, with only 2.1% of dwellings having rooftop solar. Closely followed by Sydney City with 2.2% and North Sydney with 3.0%.

The highest penetrations in NSW were Coonamble (42.3% of dwellings), Moree (41.3%) and Walgett (40.4%).

 

[paulp]

In NSW, for Ausgrid at least, it is 10 kW per phase.

Doesn’t PW2 automatically prevent export in an outage?

Sydney has very low solar penetration so maybe Ausgrid doesn’t care as much. Turns out the wealthiest suburbs in Sydney have the lowest rooftop solar penetration in the state. At the end of 2019, the Woollahra LGA (eastern suburbs of Sydney, which has Australia’s most expensive houses and highest average household income) has the lowest rooftop solar penetration in the state, with only 2.1% of dwellings having rooftop solar. Closely followed by Sydney City with 2.2% and North Sydney with 3.0%.

The highest penetrations in NSW were Coonamble (42.3% of dwellings), Moree (41.3%) and Walgett (40.4%).

Yes pw2 and enphase microinvertors both prevent export in an outage, but the network operator decides they know better and ignore such realities.

 

[Shallowal]

The problem in SA is the stupid rules. If you have single phase the maximum solar you can have is 5kw.

Is this correct?. ie is 5Kw the maximum size or is it the maximum that can be exported.

In NSW, for Ausgrid at least, it is 10 kW per phase.

Essential, which covers the majority of the state, limits the maximum to 5KW per phase. But that is the export limit, not the solar array limit. They dont care if you put 20kw on your house, just that the export must be limited. That's why there are so many Solar companies offering systems such as 6.6kw array with 5kw inverters.

 

[cafz]

That's why there are so many Solar companies offering systems such as 6.6kw array with 5kw inverters.

The oversizing of the array compared to the inverter is also because inverters are more expensive per W than panels, so for the cheapest $/kWh there's a sweet spot where the inverter capacity is maxed out for more of the day.

 

[paulp]

Is this correct?. ie is 5Kw the maximum size or is it the maximum that can be exported.

Essential, which covers the majority of the state, limits the maximum to 5KW per phase. But that is the export limit, not the solar array limit. They dont care if you put 20kw on your house, just that the export must be limited. That's why there are so many Solar companies offering systems such as 6.6kw array with 5kw inverters.

Yep thats all correct, but the strange part is I get 10kw per phase as I have 3 phase. My neighbour is single phase so he gets a 5kw maximum.