Excerpt from theguardian.com
Record levels of renewable energy drove down electricity prices across Australia in the September quarter, with prices zero or negative for one-sixth of the time, the Australian Energy Market Operator has said in its latest report.
There was also little sign of the Morrison government’s much-touted “gas-led recovery”, with a supply disruption at Victoria’s Longford gas plant initially leading to record or near-record spot prices for the fossil fuel in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. Gas’s share of the power mix also slumped one-fifth from a year earlier for the quarter as a whole.
By August the arrival of milder weather and ongoing weak electricity demand caused by Covid-related lockdowns in Victoria and New South Wales sent gas and electricity prices plunging, Aemo said.