South Australia Hitting 25% Of Electricity Demand From Rooftop Solar PV

October 2, 201410 years ago James Ayre 4 Comments

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Rooftop solar PV is now filling as much as 25% of total electricity demand in the state of South Australia during the sunniest parts of the day — which in South Australia is much of the day, throughout most of the year — as per recent reports.

The impressive percentage is a good show of just how much the nature of electricity supply has been changing in the region in recent times — or for that matter, not just in the region, but globally as well.

The graph above (from Saturday, September 20) says it all, doesn’t it? And it’s not unique — pretty much the same split occurs most other days as well.

If you’re wondering what exact infrastructure is supporting these percentages, here you go: 22.6% of all dwellings in South Australia are home to rooftop solar PV systems as of June 30, for a total of 555 MW of capacity.

Renew Economy provides more:

This data was not taken in the heat of the summer, when more air conditioners will be in use and demand considerably higher, but SA Power Networks, which operates the grid in the state, said it was clear that rooftop solar PV was improving stability and helping push the moment of peak demand into the early evening.

Rooftop solar and wind energy is expected to account for 40% of South Australia’s electricity demand in 2014/15. The state recently announced it would lift its renewable target to 50% by 2025, although if the Ceres wind farm and the Hornsdale wind farms are built, solar thermal gets a hold and rooftop solar PV continues to be deployed, it may achieve a much higher renewables ratio.

Here are a few more graphs showing similarly high shares of generated electricity:

For Saturday, September 27: