Australia reaches new renewable milestone over 50%

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), a'statement made on Thursday,' said that Australia had achieved a clean energy milestone in the quarter ending December, despite a rise of over 2,2% in power demand from a year earlier.

The gas-fired generation has fallen to its lowest levels since 2000. Meanwhile, the total electricity production across the National Electricity Market grew 3.1% from one year ago to just under 25,000 megawatts. The share of generation from renewables increased by 5 percentage points compared to a year earlier, and now exceeds 50%.

The NEM excludes Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Western Australia recorded a higher use of renewable energy and a decline in fossil fuel use. This was despite the fact that the state had extended the life of a coal plant due to concerns about long-term security. Origin Energy announced the extension of a coal-fired plant in the same week.

AEMO reported that the output of rooftop solar, grid-scale solar and wind power all increased by double digits. This is due to new capacity coming on line, as well as better wind conditions. Battery discharge almost tripled compared to a year ago, reaching?286 Megawatts.

The combined coal and gas generation fell below 50%, causing grid emissions to reach a quarterly record low of 23.4 millions tons of CO2-equivalent.

Australia is tightening its rules on LNG exporters along the east coast after AEMO predicted gas shortages in this decade. Australia aims to cut emissions by 46% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels, and source 82% electricity from renewable sources by that time. Helen Clark, Thomas Derpinghaus (Editing)

(source: Reuters)