The first month of the year has been shockingly warm, with temperatures reaching as high as 50 degrees in parts of the country.
As temperatures rise, it’s no surprise a lot of us reach for the AC remote.
Ordinarily that would put a huge strain on our electricity grid, but energy supply experts say the system response has looked different this year.
Across the country’s main grid – meaning the five Eastern states and the ACT – solar supplied 30 percent of all electricity for the week ending 1st February.
Narrowing the scope down to daytime hours between 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM, solar energy soared to 59 percent of demand, with output peaking at 67 percent between 12:00 PM and 1:00 PM.
Over half of the daytime solar energy output is from small-scale residential systems spread across the country – rooftop solar – with the rest taken care of by large-scale solar farms.
After dark, coal-fired power kicked in alongside continued output from wind, hydroelectric, gas, and battery power.
While our electricity system still relies on dirty coal plants, this year has marked a turning point towards a renewable future, where solar energy is just as necessary as outdated fossil fuels.
More work needs to be done to reach a fully renewable grid, but environmentally friendly renewables are the clear future for Australian energy demands.
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