South Australia Set to Become First Big Grid to Run on 100% Renewables
South Australia’s gigawatt-scale electricity network is within touching distance of phasing out fossil fuel backup.
Even when wind and solar have produced much more electricity than is needed in the state at any one time, it has always had to have some synchronous generators, and always gas fired generators in South Australia, running to ensure some of the principal grid services can still be delivered.
South Australia is a living laboratory of how to manage the transition to wind and solar, and an inverter-based grid, and it is remarkable to see how the engineering assessment of system needs has rapidly evolved in recent years.