Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) reached a record annual average of 37.5 per cent renewable energy share on 31 August, 2023, as winter gas and coal usage fell.
While this figure remains less than half of the nation’s 82 per cent target of renewable energy share by 2030, the record for the past 12 months is encouraging as uptake of clean energy accelerates.
Energy analyst Simon Holmes à Court tweeted the news on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on 1 September, 2023, based on information sourced from the OpenNEM data portal.
“On the last day of winter, Australia’s National Electricity Market reached a record annual average of 37.5 per cent (3/8ths!) renewables,” he wrote.
“Gas five per cent and coal 57.4 per cent – the lowest winter gas usage since 2004, and the lowest winter coal usage since records began.”
At the current rate of increasing renewable energy share in the NEM, clean power is expected to reach parity with coal in late 2025 or early 2026.
In late August, the Federal Government released its emissions data for the March 2023 quarter, in which it incorrectly claimed a renewable energy share of 39 per cent in the 12 months to 31 March.
However, this was later amended to 35 per cent after being noticed by OpenNEM.