Wind and solar hit record share of Australia’s main grid, nearly half of it from rooftop PV

An abundance of rooftop solar generation has helped set a new record high for the total share of renewables on Australia’s main grid, reaching nearly 80 per cent on a sunny Friday afternoon in Spring.

Data on OpenElectricity.org says the share of renewable energy on the National Electricity Market (NEM) hit 79.5 per cent at 1.30 pm on Friday September 18, beating the previous high – as measured by the Australian Energy Market Operator – of 78.6 per cent recorded nearly a year earlier at 11.30 am on Saturday October 11, 2025.

The record is based on 30-minute intervals, as is the measure used by the Australian Energy Market Operator – but there have been suggestions that the share in renewables went as high as 80.1 per cent according to 5-minute data.

At the time of the 1.30pm record, there was a total of 26,316 megawatts (MW) of renewables powering the NEM, compared to just over 2,000 MW of fossil fuels.

Rooftop solar was supplying nearly half of all generation at the time of the record – at a 47.9 per cent share – followed by 22.1 per cent from utility-scale solar. Brown and black coal, combined, held roughly 20 per cent of the mix.

Gas, meanwhile, was barely there, contributing a total of less than 1 per cent to the generation mix at the time of the record.

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