South Australia has long led the country, and the world, with its high share of wind and solar in the grid – 72 per cent in the last 12 months – but its growth in wind energy has largely remained static in the last two years because of the lack of new projects and its cap on exports.
Now, the record for wind output in the country’s most advanced renewable state has been broken for the first time in nearly two years – courtesy of the ramp up of output at what will the state’s biggest wind project, the first stage of a major new transmission link to NSW and Victoria, and the commissioning of another big battery.
At 5.45pm on Saturday, April 19, according to data provided by OpenNEM and GPE NEMLog, wind output in South Australia hit a new peak of 2,147 megawatts, breaking a record that had stood since July, 2023.
There are a couple of interesting factors at play. One is the ramp up of Neoen’s 413 MW Goyder South wind project, which will be the biggest in the state when fully operating.
It appears to have passed a new “hold point” in its commissioning process and reached a new peak of nearly 300 MW over the Easter long weekend, including when the new wind output record was set.
Another factor is the commissioning of the first stage of Australia’s biggest transmission project to date, Project EnergyConnect, which will link South Australia with NSW and Victoria and will allow a more than doubling in electricity imports and exports to and from the state.
The completed first stage of the transmission link increases the import and export capacity into and out of South Australia by around 150 MW, and this was being used at the time of the new output.
See: “Transformational:” World’s most advanced wind and solar grid can now export and import more power
The constraints on exports had kept a lid on the growth of wind output for much of the last two years, and provided a disincentive to new projects. Goyder South is the first new wind project in the state since the connection of the large wind and solar hybrid at the Port Augusta renewable energy hub in 2022.
The third factor playing a role in the increased wind exports is the growth of battery storage. Neoen’s newly commissioned Blyth battery – at 238.5 MW, 477 MWh – is the biggest in the state and was also active at the time of the new wind output record.
The increase in transmission and storage capacity, and the addition of new renewable generation projects are crucial for South Australia to meet its stated target of 100 per cent net renewables by 2027. It will be the first grid in the world to reach such a target.
Over the weekend, wind set a new 24-hour “mean” share of South Australia’s demand of 108.2 per cent, according to GPE NEMLog, a record that is likely to fall repeatedly in coming months and years as the capacity of wind and battery projects increases significantly.
There are currently seven new battery projects under construction in the state – Summerfield, Mannum, Bungama, Hallett, Clements Gap, Solar River and Templers.
See Renew Economy’s Big Battery Map of Australia for more details.
Part of the role of the Goyder South and the Blyth battery projects will be to provide a zero emissions “baseload” power source to the giant Olympic Dam mine owned and operated by BHP.
