The share of coal in Australia's power generation mix fell below 50% for the first time in history thanks to strong winds that pushed the share of wind power higher.
According to a Bloomberg report out today, the share of coal in the mix fell to 49.2% last week, while the share of wind power rose to a little over 25%, generation data showed.
Australia has become one of the biggest energy transition enthusiasts, building out wind and solar capacity fast, which has led to a reduction in the share of coal in its energy mix but also to excessive volatility on its electricity market. Rystad Energy last year said it was the most volatile electricity market in the world.
"Volatility is driven by significant supply issues, including unplanned coal power plant outages or transmission line problems caused by natural disasters such as cyclonic winds or bushfires, which have become more frequent and devastating in recent years," the Norwegian consultancy said, suggesting coal continues to be an indispensable part of the country's energy mix.
In further evidence of this, the country earlier this year decided to delay the shutdown of its biggest coal power plant citing insufficient wind and solar capacity to replace it.
The Eraring power plant has a capacity of 2.9 gigawatts across four units. Origin Energy, the operator, had planned to retire it amid cost pressures from wind and solar installations that receive government support but the New South Wells government asked it to extend the life of the facility. Two of the four units will be kept in operation. When all four are in operation, they supply a quarter of the state's electricity consumption.
The Eraring power plant was planned to be shuttered in 2025 but this has now been extended by two years on the apparent hopes that by then there will be enough wind and solar with battery backup to be able to secure the electricity needs of the New South Wales population.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
Irina is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing on the oil and gas industry. More