Daytime electricity demand in Queensland reached a new low on the weekend, with the Sunshine State’s huge large-scale and rooftop solar resources combining to push scheduled demand to 3,889MW in the early afternoon on Sunday, August 23 – its lowest level since late in 2004.
According to Global Roam’s Paul McArdle, daytime electricity demand for the Queensland region on Sunday fell to 3,911MW at the 11.45am dispatch, and then to 3,896MW at the 12.15pm dispatch, and then lower again to 3,889MW after 1pm.
McArdle says that according to a check run through NEMreview v7, the levels of demand on Sunday were the lowest seen since in roughly 16 years, since late in 2004.
And, as McArdle also notes in this Watt Clarity article, this is even more impressive considering comparable low points in demand back in the early 2000s would most likely have occurred in the very early hours of the morning, or possibly on major public holidays such as Christmas day, if the weather was cool.
On Sunday, the low demand might have been boosted by ample sunshine, combined with the effects of the “Antarctic blob” that delivered a cold blast up and down Australia’s east coast, reducing the demand for energy to run air conditioners at a traditionally low-demand time of the week.
“The Queensland ‘duck’ (as in ‘duck curve’) is getting hungry…” McArdle says.
The new milestone comes after AEMO reported the highest level of wind and solar output late last week.
