Australian Energy Market Operator releases roadmap to 100% renewables generation by 2025

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
The 256MWp Kiamal Solar Farm (pictured) in the Australian state of Victoria. Image: Total Eren.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has released its roadmap to reaching 100% renewable generation in the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM) by 2025.

The roadmap is structured under three broad themes: power system security, system operability and resource adequacy and capability.  Each section comes with a set of preconditions that must be met in order to successfully transition the NEM to periods of 100% renewable power.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

In opening comments by AEMO CEO Daniel Westerman, the report’s target of 100% ‘instantaneous penetration’ of renewables generation was defined as a half-hour period in which the system runs entirely on renewable energy. The aim is to begin these periods in 2025, with increased frequency as system security and resources increase.

Westerman said: “Australia is transitioning from a historic dependency on coal generation to higher levels of renewable energy, supported by firming technologies, like pumped hydro, batteries and gas generation, and transmission developments to share low-cost sources of energy to our towns and cities.

“Complementing these investments is the shared responsibility to also re-engineer the power system to run reliably and securely on higher levels of renewable energy.

“Being ready to operate the power system with high penetration levels of renewables is critical to ensure a smooth energy transition, meet Australia’s emission reduction commitments and ensure reliable, secure and affordable energy for consumers into the future.”

AEMO highlighted the key role that energy storage will play in Australia’s energy transition, allowing for periodically unreliable solar and wind energy to be distributed when it’s needed.  

Within its report, the market operator listed improvements to transmission infrastructure, including an organised approach to resilience planning to control outages when new inputs and generation are being added to the grid, a new restart system that doesn’t require fossil fuel generation to be online prior to restarting and improved installation compliance of DPV inverters.

AEMO said that the model it will use on the NEM will provide learnings for Western Australia’s South West Interconnected System and Wholesale Electricity Market.

Australia has committed to the international 2050 net zero targets, as well as having 42% of its electricity generation fulfilled by renewables by 2030. A report by the universities of Melbourne, Queensland and Princeton said that Australia will need 1.9TW of solar if it is to meet its 2050 net zero target.

In October, the government unveiled a US$16 billion clean energy budget. Last month, the New South Wales government received 8GW of bids for renewable energy and storage projects.

Read Next

June 30, 2025
Voting on the US tax reconciliation bill is expected to begin in the Senate today, following a draft published on Friday that hit clean energy tax credits hard.
June 30, 2025
Australian module manufacturer Tindo Solar has secured a 30MW solar module supply agreement to power Australia's first "net zero pipeline”.
June 27, 2025
Renewables investment platform Nexwell Power has signed a round of power purchase agreements (PPAs) with “one of the largest” US tech companies for solar PV capacity to be built in Spain.
June 26, 2025
A group of minority shareholders in Norwegian silicon firm REC Silicon has triggered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the closure of the company’s US polysilicon production site.
June 26, 2025
Nextracker will supply solar tracker systems to a 550MW solar PV project in the Greek province of Western Macedonia, owned by Greek renewables developer PPC Renewables.
June 26, 2025
PV solar cell manufacturer Halocell Energy has launched its first perovskite-based product called the Halocell Ambient Modules.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Webinars
June 30, 2025
10am PST / 6pm BST
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
July 2, 2025
Bangkok, Thailand
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico