It seems extraordinary to think that a little over four years ago, South Australia had a Liberal government with a unique target – becoming the first gigawatt-scale grid in the world to reach 100 per cent net renewables through wind, solar and storage.
It was a policy completely at odds with the federal Liberals and their Coalition partners, but reflected the reality of the state’s situation – coal is dead, gas is expensive, and it has the most amazing wind and solar resources.
South Australia’s Liberal Party lost power to Labor in 2022 and have now virtually been wiped from the electoral map in 2026. They are guaranteed just four seats in the new 47-seat lower house and lose their status as the official “opposition” to One Nation.
The downfall of the Liberals in South Australia has a lot to do with local issues unique to the state – scandals, missteps and a stench around the influence of state HQ, which had fallen in to the hands of the Far Right.
But it has also had a lot to do with the problem affecting the Liberal Party across the nation – it can’t make up its mind about net zero and the energy transition. Moderates have evaporated, and even one-time cheerleader Gina Rinehart is throwing her support behind the bloody-minded One Nation.
The good news is Labor has been returned to power for another four years – and seems destined to keep it another four years after that.
And they have an even more ambitious renewables policy – they intend to reach the net 100 per cent target in 2027, with the addition of several new wind and solar farms, more batteries, more rootop PV, and the completion of a new connection to New South Wales.
It’s hard to underplay just how significant this is. Many countries and states around the world have reached 100 per cent renewables, but all have done it the bulk of supply coming from hydro.
South Australia will be the first gigawatt-scale grid to achieve this with wind and solar as the only renewable power, supported by a rapidly growing fleet of big batteries, as well gas fired generation.
Just to be clear, “net” means that the grid is not isolated, and will export surplus power and import from other state when needed. That’s usually how big grids work.
South Australians are OK with this, the votes prove it. After the blackout of 2016 delivered some salient lessons on the management of grids, the state has enjoyed the most reliable power supply in the country, despite doubling its renewables share to 75 pct.
As federal energy minister Chris Bowen said on the ABC’s Insiders on Sunday, the victory margin was “eye wateringly” large.
“He (premier Malinauskas) has led a very active, reformist government, and in … my area of interest, a jurisdiction with the highest renewable energy ambition in the world, and despite the right-wing noise and the scaremongering, the South Australian people said to get on with it.”
And it may be just the start. Last week we reported on the efforts of SA Power Networks, which runs the distributed network, to develop programs that properly integrate rooftop solar and batteries, as well as loads such as air con, hot water, and other devices.
South Australia already leads the world (again) in consumer energy integration. The idea is let South Australians have as much of these assets as they want, but make it interesting, rewarding, and painless to be involved in grid management on several days a year – whether curtailing rooftop PV in summer or dialling down EV charging in evening peaks.
But that may be just the beginning.
South Australia high renewable status, and its untapped resources, is attracting a lot of interest from energy intensive industries – data centres, miners, defence and steel-making.
According to Simon Emms, who head transmission company ElectraNet, the South Australia grid could grow six-fold to 25GW in coming years, because of the attraction of low cost wind and solar.
In a presentation to EN26 in Adelaide last week, he said the state has a once in a generation economic opportunity to develop its wind and solar resources and tap into those new industries.
Which is just a little bit different to the nonsense and naysaying you hear from what remains of the Coalition, and even more stridently from One Nation.
