Renewable records tumble for second day in a row, pushing fossil fuels to new lows
The instantaneous share of renewable energy in Australia’s main grid has reached new highs for the second day in a row, steadily nudging out fossil fuels in preparation for the day that coal generation might be switched off completely, as occurred in the UK earlier today.
As Joshua Hill writes here, the last coal-fired power generator in the UK shut down at 9am AEST on Tuesday, bringing to an end nearly 143 years of coal power. The UK was the first to adopt the technology and the first major economy to shut it down.
In Australia, coal remains stubbornly strong, courtesy of its historical dominance and the failure – unlike the UK – of having bipartisan agreement that it should be closed down. Over the last 12 months it has accounted for 54 per cent of the generation on the main grid, but on Monday it was pushed to a new intantaneous low of 26.4 per cent.
That’s because the share of renewables posted a new instantaneous high of 73.1 per cent – a record that was broken on Tuesday morning at 11.30 when renewables grabbed a 74.1 per cent share.https://reneweconomy.com.au/renewable-records-tumble-for-second-day-in-a-row-pushing-fossil-fuels-to-new-lows/
