Sunshine state enjoys highest ever rooftop solar output – and record levels of renewable curtailment

It was a notable day for renewables and grid in the country’s most coal dependent state on Saturday, with a record level and share of rooftop PV in the local grid, combined with the lowest ever levels of grid demand, and a record level of curtailment for large scale wind and solar.

All told, Queensland had enough available, or potential, renewable energy to provide more than 105 per cent of its demand needs, but it was to be because a minimum amount of state-owned coal generators are required to run at all times.

Still, it is a sign of the potential in the state grid, which still only averages a little over 30 per cent renewables over the year, and has the higher share of coal of any state, and a new LNP government that has ripped up the state’s renewable energy targets.

According to Geoff Eldridge, of GPE NEMLog, rooftop solar output hit new high of 4,607.4 megawatts (MW) at 12.40pm on Saturday, beating a previous record set in October last year, and delivering a record share of 54.7 per cent of demand, the highest since earlier this month.

That translated also into a new record low for operational demand of 3,059.0 MW, also beating the record set in October last year, and minimum network demand of 2,936.7 MW.

Earlier in the day, curtailment totals hit a record high of 3,423.5 MW, with up to 2,601.9 MW of large scale solar curtailed in the morning, and up to 1,018 MW of large scale wind. The wind curtailment record was 35 per cent higher than the previous record set in July.

Were it not for the curtailment, the share of renewables would have reached 105.9 per cent of grid demand, beating the previous peak of 99.3 per cent that Renew Economy noted earlier this month.

“The RE + Curtailment share above 100% for the first time shows that Queensland had more potential renewable generation than total demand at times,” Eldridge noted in a post on LinkedIn.

“The rapid succession of records (just a day apart) highlights how quickly the system dynamics are shifting.

“With spring arriving, shoulder-season conditions — when household heating and cooling demand is minimal — are exposing the growth in rooftop PV capacity.

“This is applying additional pressure by reducing the volume of demand left for dispatchable generation, accelerating the trend toward midday curtailment and record-low operational demand.

“Queensland now has “more renewable supply than demand” at times, but lacks the flexibility to use it. That’s both a challenge (efficiency loss, system stress) and an opportunity (new markets for storage and flexible demand).”

Queensland currently has five operating big batteries, with another eight currently under construction, including the first stage of what could be the biggest battery in the country, Supernode, on the outskirts of Brisbane.