Coal generates less than half of Australian power for first time
The high winds that have been lashing southeastern Australia over the past few days have pushed coal-fired power below 50% of the country’s power mix for the first time ever.
The fossil fuel accounted for 49.2% of electricity generation in the week through Monday, the first time it’s fallen below half on a weekly rolling basis, according to figures from Open-NEM, a data aggregator. Wind farms generated just over a quarter of power during the period.
Australia’s rapid shift to solar and wind generation to replace its fleet of aging coal plants has made it a global test case for the energy transition. It’s also resulted in it becoming one of the world’s most volatile power markets, leading to an unprecedented halt in spot trading in June 2022.
Coal generation fell to 56% last year, from 87% in 2006, the highest level this century, the data show. Wind and solar’s combined output was 31% in 2023. The Open-NEM figures cover the National Electricity Market, which supplies power to more than 80% of Australia’s population.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation