Record month delivers all-time high for wind and solar generation, 20-year low for gas

A warm and windy October has delivered yet another record for large-scale wind and solar energy generation in Australia, with the combined monthly output of the two renewable energy sources reaching a new high of 4,271GWh.

Rystad Energy analyst David Dixon reports on LinkedIn that the new record beats out the previous high – set in July of this year by 218GWh. It tops the amount generated by wind and solar over the same period last year by  more than 25% (3,414 GWh, October 2022).

The stars of the month in wind were spread across the country, including South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia.

The top wind assets for October were the Hornsdale stage one wind farm – next to Australia’s first ever Big Battery in South Australia – with a capacity factor (CF) of 48.0%, the Granville Harbor wind farm in Tassie, with 46.2% CF and the Badgingarra wind farm in WA with a 45.9% CF.

In big solar, best performing assets for the month were mostly in Queensland, Dixon notes, with 12 of the top 20 solar farms located in the Sunshine State, including the Edenvale solar farm (40.3% AC CF).

But Dixon also notes that the contribution to the grid from solar over the month might have been higher with more energy storage.

“The price received for utility solar assets in the NEM for October was negative in all states except NSW,” he writes.

“Hence there would have been significant economic curtailment in QLD, SA and VIC. At a state level NSW was in top spot, generating 1,142GWh with 566GWh from utility PV and 576 GWh from wind,” he says.

Meanwhile, on the fossil fuel side of the equation, it was gas that stood out as having its share in the energy supply eaten away by renewables in October – taking its contribution to overall supply to a 20-year low.

“Gas generation hit a new low in the NEM (444GWh), the last time gas generation was this low on a monthly basis was April 2003,” Dixon says.