The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has signalled that solar PV, energy storage and wind projects looking to connect to the National Electricity Market (NEM) at the end of Q3 2024 surpassed 45GW.
According to the organisation’s latest Quarterly Energy Dynamics report, released yesterday (29 October), 45.6GW of new renewable energy capacity was progressing through the connection process from application to commissioning, representing a 36% increase from 33.4GW at the same time last year.
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Around 38% of this capacity is in New South Wales, 30% in Queensland, 21% in Victoria, and 10% in South Australia.
The majority of these projects, around 79%, are in the early development stage, specifically in the application or proponent implementation stages. Solar PV comprises 45%, 31% battery energy storage, 15% wind energy, 7% pumped hydro and 2% gas.
Energy storage projects saw an 87% year-on-year increase in Q3 2024, with 14.6GW currently in the connection process.
Renewable energy generation contributed more to the NEM in the last quarter than Q2 2024, although this was only a slight increase of 0.4%. Higher wind generation and distributed solar PV output offset the reductions in hydro and grid-scale solar generation, leading to an increase in the overall contribution of renewable energy.
The output from distributed solar PV systems increased year-on-year to an average of 2,539MW, reflecting an 11% growth due to an increase in installed capacity. However, grid-scale solar facilities experienced a reduction in output, averaging 1,461MW – a decline of 68MW, or 4.5%.
This decrease was attributed to lower solar irradiance, outages for network upgrades, and more economic offloading.
Most of the increase in solar PV power plant availability came from new and commissioning sites in New South Wales, particularly at Wellington North, which saw an increase of 53MW, and Wyalong, with a 6MW increase. Additionally, growth in this sector was supported by Wandoan (+20MW) in Queensland, Glenrowan (+20MW) in Victoria, and Tailem Bend 2 (+15MW) in South Australia.
Commenting on the report, Violette Mouchaileh, AEMO executive general manager reform delivery, said: “It is promising to see Australia’s energy transition continue, with more renewable energy generation capacity either coming online or progressing.”
Australia’s NEM adds 3.5GW of wind, solar PV and batteries in Q3 2024
AEMO also released its latest Connections Scorecard, signalling that 3.5GW of solar PV, batteries and wind projects were registered in Q3 2024.
The registered projects include three wind farms totalling 1.8GW, three battery energy storage systems at 1.25GW, and four solar PV projects with a generation capacity of 0.4GW.
AEMO executive general manager of system design Merryn York said the rise in projects advancing to registration follows an increase in application approvals from the previous year.
“In the September quarter alone, 10 projects totalling 3.5GW were registered, well in advance of last year’s total. This highlights considerable momentum,” York said.
NEM achieves new record peak renewable energy contribution
Another major achievement across the NEM was a new record for peak renewable energy contribution, reaching 72.2% at 12:30pm on 9 September. This is slightly higher than the previously established record of 72.1% set on 24 October 2023.
At the time of the new record, distributed solar PV contributed 38.5% of total generation, while grid-scale solar PV and wind provided 18.3% and 13.4%, respectively.
Although no other records were achieved in Q3 2024, it is worth noting that the renewable energy contribution throughout the quarter exceeded the 70% threshold during 79 half-hour intervals, the AEMO said.
“AEMO is preparing the grid to run on 100% renewable energy generation at any one point in time, and this quarter saw total renewable energy generation available at over 100% of demand on two occasions,” Mouchaileh said.
