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Australia’s electricity grid must be built to handle the worst moments, not averages.
This week, Australia’s National Energy Market (NEM) has experienced a prolonged wind drought, which, alongside low solar generation due to winter, has made the grid overly reliant on coal and gas.
As I began writing this article at 9.50 am on Wednesday, only 26% of the NEM’s power generation is coming from solar (21%) and wind (5%), while coal (54%) and gas (9%) are carrying the load:
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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
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