DASVEDANYA VLAD:

The extraordinary pace of the renewable energy transition in South Australia has been highlighted by new data from the Australian Energy Market Operator, which shows that electricity generated from renewables exceeded state demand every second day in 2021.

In South Australia renewables means only wind and solar, as there are no other renewable sources in the state - no hydro and no geothermal.

In 2021, according to the AEMO data, wind and solar accounted for 63.4 per cent of total generation within the states. Another 0.7 per cent came from battery storage, much of that charged up by renewables. Fossil fuels, in this case gas, fell to just 35.7 per cent.

The share of wind energy was 43.9 per cent, the share of utility scale solar was 4.6 per cent, while rooftop solar accounted for 14.9 per cent.

Other countries and distinct grids have greater shares of wind energy, but it is the combination of wind and solar, and the penetration of rooftop solar, that makes South Australia the leading gigawatt scale grid in the world.

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