Combined output of wind and solar hits record high on main grid

The combined output of large scale wind and solar in Australia’s main grid hit a new high this week, beating a record set more than a year ago.

According to the data collectors at GPE NEMLog, the output of wind and solar hit the new peak of 11,315 megawatts (MW) at 9.30am on Friday, beating the previous best of 11,184 MW set at the very same time of day on July 8, 2023.

Two thirds of that was coming from large scale wind – pushed along by another cold front sweeping the southern states – while rooftop solar was providing a further 4.5 GW, taking the total share of renewables at that time to 54 per cent.

As the day unfolded, and the output of rooftop solar increased, the share of renewables grew to a maximum 61.8 per cent at the time of writing.

This is appears to be the longest gap between records, according to the GPE NEMLog graph below, and may point to the combined impact of the wind energy lull in the June quarter, and slowdown in new connections and commissioning over the past 12 months.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes for more records to be broken. Many need to be to reach both state and federal renewable targets over the next six years.