Coal Prices Soar! Solar Benefit Accelerates Erosion Of Australian Coal Market Share
May 20, 2022
In the first quarter of 2022, solar PV and other renewables accounted for more than one-third of Australia's National Energy Market (NEM) electricity generation, while coal's share fell five percentage points year-on-year.
However, the Australian Energy Market Operator's latest quarterly report on Energy Dynamics shows that the average price has risen sharply to A$87/MWh (US$60.23/MWh), driven by high gas prices, short supply, coal-fired unit outages and restricted north-south power sharing. ).
The average real-time wholesale electricity price of NEM has risen sharply to A$87/MWh from A$52/MWh in the previous quarter, the highest price since A$89/MWh in the second quarter of 2019.
The average real-time wholesale electricity price of NEM in the first quarter of 2022 rose sharply to A$89/MWh.
Solar PV and wind accounted for 33.7% of Australia's electricity generation in Q1 2022, but average prices rose sharply to A$87/MWh
Despite the increase in average prices in the first quarter of this year, renewable power generation managed to continue the trend of the previous quarter and set a record operating demand, with prices falling to zero or negative for a while in the first quarter of 2022.
Average solar power generation hit a new quarterly record of 1,504MW, an increase of 214MW from the previous record set in the fourth quarter of 2021, thanks to an increase in solar PV capacity and solar irradiation in some regions in the first three months of the year.
NEM Q1 2022 average price hits new high since Q2 2019
This growth was mainly driven by New South Wales, which added 292MW, followed by Queensland (+97MW) and Victoria (+35MW).
In the first quarter of 2022, the growth of wind power, solar power generation (+743MW) and distributed photovoltaic power generation capacity (+460MW) drove the share of renewable energy in the new energy market to 33.7%.
In addition, distributed photovoltaics continue to play an increasingly important role in the dynamic development of Australia's energy structure and national energy market, with distributed photovoltaics accounting for 10% of the total structure, up from 8.3% in the first quarter of 2021 increased.
Demand in Queensland hit an all-time high of 10,058MW on March 8. Queensland experienced several high demand and price swings in the first quarter of 2022, after which coal dominated daytime prices.
In the first quarter, the real-time price in this area exceeded 1,000 Australian dollars/MWh, and the real-time average price on two days was one of the 10 highest prices ever recorded in NEW Queensland, and the regional average price in the first quarter of 2022 was 150 Australian dollars/MWh.
