South Australia, widely regarded as the most world’s most advanced gigawatt-scale grid in the transition to wind and solar, set a new record high instantaneous share of 136.6 per cent of domestic demand on Sunday.
The new benchmark was reached, according to data analyst Geoff Eldridge of NEMLog, at 4.30am (AEST) on Easter Sunday, April 17. And because it was at night, the share was made up entirely of wind.
That new level eclipsed the previous high of 136.2 per cent set at 4:10am on another public holiday, Monday December 27, when it again relied on wind power alone to set the target.
It came as Victoria set its own record instantaneous renewables share later in the same day, reaching a peak of 83.8 per cent through a mixture of wind, rooftop solar and utility scale solar.
South Australia is a world leader in the adoption of wind and solar, and over the last 12 months has set an unrivalled share of 64 per cent wind and solar, although only 60.7 per cent over the last 30 days.
At the time of the new record, the state was exporting more than 500MW of excess capacity to Victoria, while its big battery installations were also charging.
Later that day, as we report here, Victoria also set a new benchmark for instantaneous renewables of 83.8 per cent at 1.10pm AEST.
South Australia is expected to set more benchmarks for wind and solar share now that the amount of gas generation has been dialled back to a minimum at times of high renewables, thanks to the installation of synchronous condensers.
These machines provide many of the system services, such as inertia and system strength, once provided uniquely by spinning generators in coal, gas and hydro system. But advanced battery inverters will also likely provide those same services over time.
More records will also fall as more wind and solar farms are added to the grid, and when the new transmission link to NSW is complete, in 2025, which will allow another 800MW to be exported from the state.
See also: Victoria reaches record wind and solar share of 83.8 per cent
