During the last week of December, South Australia managed to generate 100% of its power from wind and solar, for an entire week at that. Although this is nothing new for the incredibly sunny state down below, it is the first time that it managed to do this for as many days in a row as it did.
Statistics showed that the wind turbines gave 64.4% of the power, while the RV panels on rooftops managed to supply 29.5%, while the utility-scale solar averaged the remaining 6.2%.
Actually, the state could have even generated more than the 100% of its requirements, but because of a quick cutback of semi-scheduled generation, it was reduced by a total of 8.2%. Over that time frame, the natural gas contribution averaged around 114 megawatts.
While the territory of Southern Australia is around 1.7 million people, most of the population lives along the coast, as well as in the capital city, Adelaide. Due to the great conditions for solar and wind energy in the area, it has proven that the renewable energy market has obviously prospered. This is heightened by the fact that during the same period of the last year, there was also a 142% of power needs that were also met using the same elements.
Since this area is located in the Southern Hemisphere of the continent, it tends to be the driest, hottest, and windiest months, during what the Northern Hemisphere dwellers would call their winter. The solar energy from 110°F (43°C) is already quite generous, while the wind power is as well, which have speeds that gush at 10mph average.
To make the most of these renewable energy capabilities the Aussies from the South chose to build the Hornsdale Power Reserve. Back in 2017, it was considered the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery, which was capable of storing at least 129 megawatt-hours of energy.
Here’s hoping the rest of the world will manage to follow suit one day.
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