{"id":25690,"date":"2018-11-16T11:33:21","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T01:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=25690"},"modified":"2025-12-18T09:47:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T00:17:45","slug":"sa-solar-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-solar-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Record Breaking 63% Of Electricity Demand Met By Rooftop Solar In South Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"solar

South Australia’s Rooftop Solar Now Meets Over 60% Of Electricity Demand At Times<\/p><\/div>\n

On Sunday, rooftop solar provided 60% of all South Australian electricity demand in the middle of the day.\u00a0 This makes SA the most solar powered state by far and puts it well past the point where we were told solar power would destroy the grid, cause your lamb roast to cost $100, and make your cows spin backwards<\/a>.\u00a0 It’s a big increase from last year when the highest figure I heard was 48%<\/a>.\u00a0 Sunday’s percentage was so high it was off the chart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Specifically this chart by the Australian PV Institute<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Solar

(Image: Australian PV Institute)<\/p><\/div>\n

This shows the percentage of total electricity demand met in each state by rooftop solar power at 12:00pm South Australia time.\u00a0 Because it has busted the chart you’re not able to see that for at least 4.5 hours from 10:00am to 2:30 rooftop solar met over 50% of all electricity consumption.\u00a0 The figures don’t include output from large solar farms and as they were providing over 100 megawatts of power at noon, South Australia would have been around 75% solar powered.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

While the figures for last Sunday were good, on Sunday the 30th of September rooftop solar provided over 63% of all electricity use in the state at 11:30am. This graph shows on that day rooftop solar provided at least 50% of electricity demand for over five hours:<\/p>\n

\"Rooftop

(Image: Australian PV Institute)<\/p><\/div>\n

These two days were not freak<\/a> events.\u00a0 Over the past 100 days there were 4 on which solar met over 60% of demand and a total of 25 in which rooftop solar provided at least 50% of electricity demand for a period of time.<\/p>\n

Rooftop Solar Capacity Is Up<\/h2>\n

In South Australia 32.1% of homes now have solar panels<\/a> on their roofs.\u00a0 SA no longer has the highest penetration in the nation as Queensland has pulled ahead with 32.6%.\u00a0 But SA is still in front on rooftop solar capacity per person and thanks to Queenslanders using far more energy, the murder mystery state generates much more\u00a0of its electricity from it.<\/p>\n

South Australia’s residential and small-scale commercial rooftop solar<\/a> capacity is expanding rapidly and getting close to 1 gigawatt.\u00a0 Add in large scale solar farms and the state has a total of around 1.3 gigawatts of solar panel capacity.\u00a0 This is enough to provide around 13% of the state’s electricity consumption.\u00a0 This graph from the Australian PV institute gives a breakdown of the capacity figures:<\/p>\n

\"Installed

(Image: Australian PV Institute)<\/p><\/div>\n

The graph was last updated on the 25th of October, so the figures are a little higher now.<\/p>\n

Minimum Demand Is Down<\/h2>\n

Rooftop solar<\/a> reduces the amount of electricity the grid has to source from power stations.\u00a0 On Sunday, the minimum power these stations supplied in South Australia was 705 megawatts:<\/p>\n

\"Electricity<\/p>\n

The table below shows it is considerably lower than the minimum in the second quarter of the year since South Australia became part of the National Electricity Market in 1999:<\/p>\n

\"Maximum

(Image: AEMO)<\/p><\/div>\n

It was even lower at 595 megawatts<\/a> on Sunday the 21st of October, which is close to the lowest figure for the past 20 years.<\/p>\n

Typically, Australia’s coal power stations can’t lower their generation below 60% of their capacity and are unable to easily start or stop.\u00a0 This means they cannot shut down to avoid low prices caused by solar power in the middle of sunny days, which makes it very effective for driving coal from the electricity market.<\/p>\n

Spring, Autumn, And Weekends Best For Setting Records<\/h2>\n

Of the four days on which rooftop solar met over 60% of demand, three were Sundays and one was a Saturday.\u00a0 Because electricity consumption is lower on weekends, records are more likely to be broken then.\u00a0 Despite this, of the past 25 days when rooftop solar met over 50% of demand 11 were weekdays.<\/p>\n

Spring and autumn are also good times for solar power to set records.\u00a0 While longer days in summer means solar produces more kilowatt-hours, greater electricity consumption from air conditioners<\/a> results in it meeting a smaller part of total demand.\u00a0 High temperatures also cut the maximum output of solar panels by lowering their efficiency.<\/p>\n

This Month’s Figures May Be Increased<\/h2>\n

The Australian PV institute looks at how much solar capacity was installed each month and, if required, bump up their figures for the percentage of demand met by rooftop solar.\u00a0 So this month’s figures may be even better than they seem and rooftop solar power may have met over 50% of demand on more than 25 of the past 100 days.<\/p>\n

Rooftop Solar Reducing Gas Use<\/h2>\n

Even when solar output is high, South Australia still generates a considerable amount of electricity from natural gas and at times large scale renewable generation is reduced to accommodate it.\u00a0 This curtailing of renewable output occurs because a certain level of gas generation is deemed necessary to give grid stability.\u00a0 Fortunately, this level will be reduced because batteries have demonstrated they can help support the grid and also because synchronous condensers<\/a> will be built.\u00a0 These are big spinny things that help stabilize the grid without needing to burn gas.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

While some gas capacity is required to be kept operating at all times in South Australia, expanding renewable capacity is reducing the total amount that is burned.<\/p>\n

Records Will Continue To Be Broken<\/h2>\n

Installation rates for rooftop solar panels are high and costs are still dropping.\u00a0 As a result, capacity will continue to expand and records will continue to be broken.\u00a0 How quickly fossil fuel generation is replaced with clean solar power mostly depends on whether politicians and regulators remove existing barriers or if they erect new ones.\u00a0 Tragically, my impression is far too many of them think their job is to protect the status quo rather than to protect us.<\/p>\n

I’d describe our current situation this way — if you discover a lunatic is pumping poison into your town’s water supply you should do everything you can to stop it as soon as possible.\u00a0 What makes no sense at all is doing nothing while you discuss how slowly you can reduce the flow of poison so as not to damage the pump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Sunday, rooftop solar provided 60% of all South Australian electricity demand in the middle of the day.\u00a0 This makes SA the most solar powered state by far and puts it well past the point where we were told solar power would destroy the grid, cause your lamb roast to cost $100, and make your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":25870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solar-panels-2","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRecord Breaking 63% Of Electricity Demand 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Master of heavily researched deep-dive blog posts, his relentless consumer advocacy has ruffled more than a few manufacturer's feathers over the years. 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From about 4.30AM last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Solar Panels"","block_context":{"text":"Solar Panels","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-panels-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rooftop solar performance during heatwave","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rooftop-solar-performance.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rooftop-solar-performance.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rooftop-solar-performance.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rooftop-solar-performance.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rooftop-solar-performance.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":88561,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-xmas-australia-mb3081\/","url_meta":{"origin":25690,"position":1},"title":"A Very Solar Xmas Day In Australia","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"December 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Rooftop solar panels across Australia did their bit to support festivities yesterday with clean energy, and made a significant contribution to meeting overall mains grid electricity demand. Solar power systems were not only producing electricity and considerable bill savings for their owners, but also exporting energy for use by others\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rooftop solar in Australia - Xmas day","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/solar-xmas-australia.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/solar-xmas-australia.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/solar-xmas-australia.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/solar-xmas-australia.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/solar-xmas-australia.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26838,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-peak-demand-mb0884\/","url_meta":{"origin":25690,"position":2},"title":"Solar Slashes Peak Electricity Demand On New Year’s Eve","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"January 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Australia Institute (TAI) has taken EnergyAustralia to task over recent claims it made regarding the cost of small-scale solar to electricity customers, while ignoring its value. According to TAI, on December 31 rooftop solar cut peak electricity demand in New South Wales by 776 MW, in Queensland by 550\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rooftop solar's impact on electricity demand","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/solar-peak-demand.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/solar-peak-demand.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/solar-peak-demand.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/solar-peak-demand.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7120,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/victorian-residential-demand-tariffs\/","url_meta":{"origin":25690,"position":3},"title":"Victoria’s Residential Demand Tariffs: Designed To Cripple Rooftop Solar?","author":"Ronald Brakels","date":"August 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Residential demand tariffs are now available in Australia, and I recommend you watch out for them. If you are a modest user of grid electricity, as many solar owners are, they have the ability to blow your electricity bill through the ceiling. The South Australian demand tariff in particular can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Electricity Prices"","block_context":{"text":"Electricity Prices","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/electricity-prices\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"an evil genius pasting demand tariffs to a solar panel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/DemandTariff2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/DemandTariff2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/DemandTariff2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":73758,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/eclipse-solar-power-mb2902\/","url_meta":{"origin":25690,"position":4},"title":"Eclipse To Dim Australian Skies And Solar Energy Output","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"April 20, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"With solar power playing a bigger role in Australia's energy mix, what impact will today's eclipse have on our electricity systems? A solar eclipse will occur across Australia today, kicking off in WA.\u00a0 It will be most visible in the Ningaloo region of Western Australia, and Exmouth is the only\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Solar eclipse electricity system impact in Australia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/eclipse-solar-power.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/eclipse-solar-power.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/eclipse-solar-power.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/eclipse-solar-power.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/eclipse-solar-power.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4191,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/utility-scale-solar-australia-doomed\/","url_meta":{"origin":25690,"position":5},"title":"Are millions of solar roofs making solar farms pointless?","author":"Ronald Brakels","date":"October 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Utility scale solar, or solar farms, are fields of PV panels which generate electricity that is fed directly into the grid.\u00a0\u00a0Currently we don't have much of this in Australia.\u00a0\u00a0Over 99% of our solar capacity is point of use which is mostly on rooftops and the juice it does produce is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Solar"","block_context":{"text":"Big Solar","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/utility-scale-solar\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"solar roofs and a solar field","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/roof-vs-field.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/roof-vs-field.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/roof-vs-field.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25690"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96704,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25690\/revisions\/96704"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}