The last week of 2021 has been an exceptional one for South Australia. The state set an impressive renewable energy record, supplying an average of just over 100 percent of its electricity demand with solar and wind for a period of almost one week.
The unprecedented clean energy run was recorded by NEMlog, which tracks the operations of the National Energy Market covering Australia’s east-coast states and South Australia. According to data analyst Geoff Eldridge at NEMlog, the state’s renewables share averaged 101 percent for a period of 156 hours, or 6.5 days, leading up to December 29th last year.
During the record-breaking renewable energy stretch, the share of wind averaged 64.4 percent, while rooftop solar averaged 29.5 percent, and the share of utility-scale solar averaged 6.2 percent.
While it’s common for South Australia to surpass its personal clean energy records every other week, that last week of December was the first time it happened so many days in a row. According to experts, the week-long run could even be record-breaking for comparable energy grids around the world.
