SA's renewable energy future not without its challenges

The rise of renewable energy in South Australia continues and, with a little strategic planning, the state will eventually be able to power itself using clean energy and then sell the rest to other states, says the Clean Energy Council (CEC).

In a briefing paper, the CEC said South Australia is leading the nation in the uptake of renewable energy, deeming the state’s progress an example to follow.

“While policymakers and regulators have universally underestimated the rollout of renewable energy to date, South Australia has shown that these new technologies can be deployed faster and at lower cost than expected, delivering a massive economic boost to the state,” the briefing paper states.

In 2003, South Australia had no renewable energy installed — but as of last year, more than 40% of its electricity came from solar and wind power.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has reportedly made it clear his government plans to go much further, with the long-term goal of exporting South Australia’s surplus renewable energy to other states.

The CEC said in the short- and medium-term this presents no problems. While South Australia’s two coal-fired power plants are scheduled to close down this year, since they are operating beyond their destined life expectancy, the Australian Energy Market Operator says this will not affect the state’s ability to meet its reliability standards — meaning the state’s energy needs will be met at least 99.98% of the time.

The paper states that the transition is not, however, without anticipated challenges, and careful strategic planning is required to ensure the future electricity network is designed with more renewable energy in mind.

In its briefing paper, the CEC has outlined a plan for a future energy system that is both low carbon and low cost. It says a range of solutions are available to achieve this, including:

• assessing options to strengthen and increase the interconnection of the National Electricity Market (NEM), potentially through innovative investment models;
• leveraging the opportunity and role of battery storage at residential and business scale, as well as distributed at scale throughout the network and in electric vehicles;
• driving innovation in the way renewable energy generation interacts and supports the electricity network, with numerous possible ways in which new renewable energy and storage technologies can provide services that the power system needs;
• refining the role of key energy market bodies in securing market-balancing infrastructure as a social good;
• repurposing retiring fossil fuel generators to provide market-balancing services while avoiding their ongoing consumption of fossil fuels.

The CEC said “there seems little doubt that with storage technology becoming more sophisticated and affordable, the future of energy will be more distributed and smarter than it is right now. To ensure the continued security and smooth operation of the electricity system, important reforms will be required, such as greater interconnection between the different parts of the National Electricity Market.”

The full briefing paper is available from the Clean Energy Council website.