Australian Chart of the week | Hungry ducks – Can we flatten the belly of the ducks?

Rooftop solar installations have continued record growth in 2020, as reported by Clean Energy Regulator (CER) in its latest December Quarterly Carbon Market Reports. In the report, 3GW of rooftop solar capacity was installed in 2020, which is a year-on-year increase of 40%. This brings the total rooftop solar capacity to 13 GW by the end of 2020. With the increase in rooftop solar installations, the impact of over-generation in the middle of the day and ramping down during evening peak are now more pronounced, as seen in the state of South Australia, which has the highest share of non-dispatchable renewables.

In this ‘Chart of the Week’, we examine the time-of-day average rooftop solar generation and the time-of-day average NEM price for the first quarter to-date of the year for the state of South Australia. Comparing with the first quarter of the past two years, we provide commentary on the impact of the rooftop solar generation on the wholesale price.

George Wong

George Wong

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