Australian Chart of the week | SA ducks in the news (again); what about the QLD duck?

South Australia is back in the news again with the state achieving a world-first on Sunday, October 11, 2020.

According to a recent update from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), between 12-1PM, solar power provided 100% of South Australia’s energy demand – a first in Australia and for any major jurisdiction globally.

In this Chart of the Week, via a time-of-day analysis, we:

  • investigate other regions to determine if this phenomenal growth in rooftop solar is only peculiar to South Australia
  • analyse the impact this trend is having on supply in these regions
Lumi Adisa

Lumi Adisa

To keep reading, please log in to your account

Alternatively, please sign up to receive free market insight online and direct to your inbox

Login or Sign up
Contact us

Related thinking

E-mobility and low carbon

GB energy demand is predicted to rise 123% due to electrification

It is safe to say that most of Great Britain’s (GB) heat and transport systems are from high emission sources that are incompatible with net zero. Decarbonising how we heat our homes and move from A to B is crucial to meeting our emissions targets. However, the biggest challenge associated...

Commercial and market outlook

Australian Chart of the week | Two roller coaster rides for the price of one? Preliminary vs final MLFs

In recent years, movements in marginal loss factors (MLFs) have received significant attention in the National Electricity Market (NEM). Many renewable projects in remote areas have experienced material MLF reductions as more supply connects nearby. For example, the MLF for Broken Hill Solar Farm saw a whopping 50 ppt drop...

Regulation and policy

Australian Chart of the week | Peak raise regulation FCAS volumes drop by 72MWs

It is helpful to understand Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS) as FCAS price forecasts are needed to estimate generator and customer costs, as well as possible revenues for new and existing ancillary service providers. AEMO procures regulation FCAS to balance frequency during normal operation. From May 2019, AEMO has procured...

Low carbon generation

Australian Chart of the week | If I should stay, I’ll only be in your way: coal and the transition

Events in Queensland on 25 May 2021 tested the resilience of the Queensland demand/supply balance with 3GW of coal generation suddenly coming offline due to a loss of generation at the Callide power station. According to AEMO’s preliminary report – released on 1 June 2021 – on the event, the outage also...

Low carbon generation

Australian Chart of the week | Is the market putting the brakes on distributed solar exports?

In most states, electricity retailers determine and set their own rooftop solar feed-in tariffs (FITS). A major driver is the wholesale energy prices, which continue to decline midday. For more information, please refer to our previous Chart of the Week issue 76. As the solar weighted wholesale energy prices reduce or become...

Low carbon generation

Australian Chart of the week | Hungry ducks – Can we flatten the belly of the ducks?

Rooftop solar installations have continued record growth in 2020, as reported by Clean Energy Regulator (CER) in its latest December Quarterly Carbon Market Reports. In the report, 3GW of rooftop solar capacity was installed in 2020, which is a year-on-year increase of 40%. This brings the total rooftop solar capacity...

Energy storage and flexibility

Australian Chart of the week | Show me the future: can storage bank on FCAS being bankable?

Previously we have examined the importance in FCAS prices for the revenue stream for batteries. With a growing interest in batteries in the market, this ‘Chart of the week’ takes a deeper look into the impact of bidding behaviour on the Regulation Raise price since 2012. From January 2012 until...

Low carbon generation

Australian Chart of the week | Gassed out: are renewables running gas out of the market?

Last week, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) released its ‘Quarterly Energy Dynamics’ (QED) report for Q4 2020. The report highlighted that operational demand has fallen to its lowest quarterly level since 2001; largely driven by mild weather and strong uptake of rooftop solar. Coupled with record high wind and...