Something remarkable is happening in Australia, which only Team Reality will notice. Team Populism will just…

Something remarkable is happening in Australia, which only Team Reality will notice. Team Populism will just be interested in which politician farted in parliament, or danced in a funny way. The energy grid is Shakespearean. Have a look at South Australia. /1 https://t.co/PbLck9eg00

Everybody remembers the 2016 South Australia blackout. And how the LNP and its cheerleaders in the media tried to weaponise it as an anti-renewables message. We then endured years of praise of coal as providing 'cheap, reliable power'. Let's fast-forward 5 years, to 2021. /2 https://t.co/sYhxBol1XD

Reliability first. 'Load shedding' is when they forcibly shut down big users of electricity because of lack of supply. South Australia continued adding renewables at record pace after 2016. And what happened? It became the most reliable market in the country. See the zero? /3 https://t.co/mEuu5wNG6r

That's zero days of supply shortfall in SA, between 2018 and 2021. The record for the big coal-burning States? O dear. Adding renewables to the mix increases reliability. So what about price? /4 https://t.co/13bBaDQU6f

The wholesale spot market is superb viewing, every day. The purple line is wholesale price, the green is demand. Starting with NSW. Significant variability, due to the grid being in transition there to renewables. Weather shifts generation when you don't have enough storage. /5 https://t.co/BVDdmKJwjV

Same pattern in Qld, Vic, Tas. In all States demand (the green line) is low during the day now, due to the huge influx of renewable energy. 3.4 million Australians are already generating their own power, on their roof. That number projected to double by 2030. /6 https://t.co/OwgjKy9jlf

Now, South Australia. BOOM. Wholesale prices flat-lined at around ZERO. None of that variability you see in other States, because SA is rapidly approaching a mature renewables-dominated supply. This is the ultimate endgame, genuine 'cheap and reliable' power. /7 https://t.co/4qrnWllZKm

@simonahac is there an interpretation of the SA data that explains this in some other way? It does appear to represent the level of renewables maturity the rest of the Oz grid is heading towards. And there's more. /8 https://t.co/IBdY8D1QIT

In October South Australia also went a week sourcing 99.8% of its electricity from wind and solar alone. It's a staggering achievement, it should be national news. They may get to 100% as early as 2026. /end https://t.co/KAn45UKSHl

Thanks to @simonahac for elaborating that this may be a charting artefact, created by that one massive peak flattening the rest of the curve (charted using a linear rather than log scale).