Solar reaches record 120 per cent of electricity demand in South Australia

The season of renewable records on Australia’s main grid continues apace, with the first days of Spring also adding a new milestone for solar in South Australia, the country’s most advanced renewable state.

The combined output of rooftop and large scale solar reached a record 120.8 per cent of local demand at 12.55pm on Sunday, according to data providers GPE NEMLog2, easily beating the previous peak of 116 per cent set in October last year.

Rooftop solar alone contributed 93.7 per cent of the state’s demand, with peak production of 1332MW. Large scale solar added another 26.3 per cent, of 374MW.

At the time, the state was exporting more than 400MW of excess power to Victoria, and it was exporting for most of the daytime hours. The state’s four operating big batteries were also charging during the day, and discharging into the evening peak.

It is the second big record of the week, with wind and solar hitting a new peak of 67.23 per cent across the main grid the previous weekend. South Australia averages more than 70 per cent wind and solar across the last 12 months.

According to GPE NEMLog, large scale solar hit a new record share of 30.7 per cent on Sunday afternoon, while coal hit a new record low instantaneous output of 5,332MW, and a record low share of 24.3 per cent in the NSW grid, in the late morning.