Solar Citizens welcomes the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) Quarterly Energy Dynamics Report which shows that Australia’s already world-leading solar households have set new records in electricity production. The report covers the last quarter of the calendar year 2024.
“The figures show us that rooftop solar reduces bills, whilst expensive gas pushes up prices. Meanwhile the Coalition is weirdly discussing government economic efficiency while proposing nuclear, which experts say will drive up energy bills and government spending on energy production,“ said Solar Citizens CEO Heidi Lee Douglas.
“Nuclear reactors will cost more to build than renewables, and will see a forced ‘switch off’ of people's rooftop solar.
“In a cost of living crisis, all sides of politics need to focus attention on how to increase the benefits of rooftop solar, backed by household solar batteries, for a low-cost, clean energy future,” said Ms Douglas.
AEMO’s Quarterly Energy Dynamics Report shows that distributed photovoltaic output is at an all-time high across the National Energy Market, producing an average output of 4,054MW, 18% higher than the previous record set in the final quarter of 2023.
The record electricity generated by solar households comes at a time when the National Energy Market (NEM) wholesale prices were 26% lower than the previous quarter, demonstrating the ability of rooftop solar to drive down energy bills not just for solar households, but for other households, businesses and industry connected to the grid.
As rooftop solar was driving down energy prices, it was competing with increases in the cost of gas. East Coast wholesale gas prices averaged $13.60 per gigajoule for the quarter, higher than $12.50 for the previous quarter.
Today’s release of the latest inflation data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics also reported a drop in household electricity costs.
Higher rooftop solar output and the unreliability of coal saw renewables generating 46% of the National Energy Market’s supply mix. First the first time, coal dipped below 50%.
There has been no consideration by the Coalition for how their nuclear plan will impact the 4 million Australian homes on average saving $1200 a year on rooftop solar.
Solar Citizens says that it is a major risk to ignore the impacts of proposed nuclear reactors on solar-powered households.
“Evidence from Canada shows that nuclear reactors force out renewable energy. Australia’s great success story of 4 million homes powered by rooftop solar will be at risk of a nuclear-led solar switch-off,” said Solar Citizens CEO Heidi Lee Douglas.
Professor Mark Winfield, co-chair of the Sustainable Energy Initiative at York University in Toronto, said:
“In Canada, we definitely have wind especially, curtailed when we have what is called 'surplus baseload generation.' Even then we have regularly ended up exporting to neighbouring US jurisdictions for 'negative' prices (i.e. we pay them to take the power off our hands).
The Queensland Conservation Council has calculated that building a 1,000 MW nuclear power station in Queensland in 2040 would knock out 3,700 GWh of cheap renewable energy from the grid. Just one nuclear power plant will push out the equivalent of 45,000 rooftop solar systems every day.
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEFFA) found that ‘always on’ nuclear power is incompatible with rooftop solar, and would take much longer to build than renewable plus storage options.
IEFFA also found that under the Coalition’s nuclear plan typical Australian households could see their electricity bills rise by $665/year on average.
“Australians want the energy bill relief now, along with the independence of generating their own clean, cheap power from the sun with home battery storage so they can use it at night. Not be tied to more expensive power sources.” concluded Ms Douglas.