SA hits renewable target
South Australia has hit its target is for 50 per cent renewable energy by 2025.
Over the past year, SA says it has received a total of 53 per cent of its energy from sun and wind-based sources.
“I am very pleased with those results. I am pleased that South Australia is leading the nation,” SA Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said.
“I am pleased that we're getting most of that renewable investment here in South Australia, it's doing great things.
“It means we are not only leading the nation but probably the world. Renewable energy is the future.”
Mr Koutsantonis said the new figures support the SA Government’s new energy legislation.
As well as building a new gas-fired power plant and giant battery, the state is empowering itself to direct generators to turn on and give “powers of direction over the interconnector between South Australia and Victoria to maintain system security”.
The bill will go before the Parliament this week.
“They [the Opposition] have been very silent about it. They have been very silent about whether we should have this power, whether they prefer to have a free market run these issues,” Mr Koutsantonis said.
“We were faced with issues here in South Australia where a generator wasn't turned on, remained idle while South Australians went without power. Now that was completely unacceptable, we want to be able to intervene in the market and tell that generator to turn on.”