Coal power hits record low amid summery spell
Unseasonably warm and sunny weather has helped push coal power generation to a new low, further undermining the economics of ageing plants that are being forced to ramp down through the day to avoid losses but are still needed to keep the lights on.
New low points were also set for demand for electricity from the grid amid abundant rooftop solar output, adding to the pressures of baseload plant owners such as AGL Energy and EnergyAustralia, and to the market operator’s tasked to keep the grid stable.
Sydney’s temperatures hit an unseasonable 37 degrees on Saturday. Dion Georgopoulos
Coal power generation in the National Electricity Market sank to less than 7440 megawatts at about 2pm on Saturday, carving about 95 MW from the previous record set in late October last year, according to Dylan McConnell, renewable energy analyst at the University of NSW.
Rooftop solar supplied 51 per cent of total demand on the National Electricity Market at midday on Sunday, when the record was broken for minimum “operational” demand on the grid, the Australian Energy Market Operator said. It noted fresh minimum demand levels were also set in Queensland and South Australia, where rooftop solar met 99.7 per cent of total electricity use from 1pm to 1.30pm.
The records come after the closure of AGL’s Liddell coal power plant in April and amid the ongoing outage at a unit at the Callide generator in Queensland, which reduced the share of coal in the electricity fuel mix.
They underscore the challenges faced by coal power plants that are being forced to operate more flexibly and ramp down during the daytime to fit in alongside ultra-cheap renewable generation, while still being needed to meet the bulk of the country’s electricity needs on
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