The change in how Australia generates electricity has been illustrated by the share coming from coal falling below three-quarters for the first time, according to a monthly index released by consultants Pitt & Sherry.
The reason for the drop in coal is mainly due to two factors. The first was the mothballing of two 500MW units at Wallerawang C power station, near Lithgow, for at least 12 months last January. The second was due to higher demand for renewable energy and gas.
Xstrata Coal black and brown coal-fired power stations supplied 74.8% of national electricity last month. The share from renewable sources such as hydro, wind and solar hit a record 12.5%, while gas supplied 12.7%. Gas generation reached its highest ever annualised level in January, the index reported.
According to the findings, annualised output from the Tasmanian hydro system in January reached its highest level since Tasmania joined the NEM in 2005. Tasmanian hydro output was more than three times output from the Snowy system, which itself was at its highest annualised level since 2006.
ESAA statistics indicate that, at 15.9 TWh, total output of NEM hydro generators was at its highest level since 2000-01.
Demand for power in the national electricity market (NEM), on a state-by-state basis, shows that the biggest drop came mostly from NSW and Victoria, with demand in SA and Tasmania virtually unchanged for more than four years. Demand in Queensland has increased slightly.
Pitt & Sherry principal consultant Hugh Saddler said emissions from eastern states generators had fallen at a rate of 5.5 million tonnes a year, or 3.5%, since the carbon price was introduced on July 1. At the end of 2008, coal-fired power plants accounted for 84.1% of total electricity.
Among the big states, NSW output from coal was little changed last month compared with January, but at the Kogan Creek, Stanwell and Tarong plants in Queensland it fell. Output from the brown coal-fired plants Loy Yang A, Loy Yang B, Yallourn and Hazelwood in Victoria fell for the seventh month in a row.
The summer peaks for power usage associated with air conditioners were not as sharp as expected.
"Obviously, falling summer peaks has important implications for future spending on network upgrades which, as everyone now knows, has been the main driver of electricity price rises over the past four or five years," the survey said.
“The rapid spread of solar panels probably accounted for about a quarter of the drop in demand, as households and businesses were able to reduce the power purchases from the grid,” Saddler said.
The rest of the drop - about 6% since the end of 2010 - comes from a shift away from energy-intensive industries such as smelting, and from energy efficiency.
