The International Edition of The Guardian reported March 16 that consumers’ electricity bills in Australia have recently dropped by 5%, thanks to increased reliance on renewable sources of electricity – this despite a blistering southern hemisphere summer. In addition, there was not “even one second” of generation-related blackouts, despite no less than 51 large coal and gas generator failures since December.
Aside from falling prices for renewables, the article credits more conservative operating procedures, the new “mega battery” in South Australia and a “demand management” program where energy users are compensated for voluntarily reducing energy consumption for just a handful of peak hours. Meanwhile, the article says, “... [T]he price of gas has tripled, now that we’re sending most of what we produce offshore, and prices for thermal coal are the highest they’ve been in almost a decade.”
In mid-2017, Meridian Energy, the parent of green power supplier Powershop, received over 70 proposals in response to a call for renewable energy proposals – some hydro dams, and the rest wind and solar farms. Meanwhile, a fleet of backup diesel power generators in South Australia and Victoria sat idle.