Coal-Loving Australia Just Hit Wind and Solar Power Records

January was a banner month for renewables Down Under. According to an analyst at Rystad Energy, who shared the figures with clean energy site Renew Economy, three of Australia’s six states noticed new data for wind and solar energy manufacturing. In complete, utility-scale wind and photo voltaic produced 3,628 gigawatt hours of energy throughout Australia, a brand new document.

A full quarter of that energy got here from New South Wales, the place wind and photo voltaic generated 995 gigawatt hours of vitality. But there have been standouts exterior of NSW, as a number of wind farms noticed nice figures in what’s often known as capacity output, or the share of time an influence plant is definitely used.

Badgingarra wind farm, a 37-turbine installation within the state of Western Australia north of Perth, noticed a jaw-dropping capability fee of 64% final month. That capability fee makes Badgingarra, in addition to 5 different wind farms that hit capability charges of greater than 50% in January, aggressive with a lot of the nation’s coal models. (In November 2019, Badgingarra’s capability output was 70%, its greatest month.)

Wind’s wins are a giant deal, as a result of in Australia, coal is certainly nonetheless king. Coal-fired energy vegetation nonetheless generate about 60% of Australia’s electricity, making it an outlier as different comparatively rich nations race to ditch coal and diversify their grids with wind, photo voltaic, and different renewables. Coal maintains an iron grip on Australia’s politics in addition to the worldwide economic system: Australia was the world’s second-biggest exporter of coal in 2020. Coal has some highly effective allies within the nation, together with conservative media mogul and native Australian Rupert Murdoch, whose numerous information merchandise, together with Fox News, have gone all-in on local weather denial. A Greenpeace evaluation launched in 2020 revealed that Murdoch’s News Corp drove a “misinformation” campaign throughout that yr’s devastating wildfires in Australia, spreading local weather denial and sowing doubt in regards to the wildfires’ causes as the federal government authorised new coal extraction tasks.

Because its gas—and politics—are so soiled, Australia’s authorities has additionally made comparatively measly emissions reductions targets. Prime Minister Scott Morrison procrastinated all the way in which as much as the start of final yr’s UN local weather assembly to subject a net-zero plan for the nation. (That plan nonetheless retains coal and fuel significantly in the mix, so it’s fairly doubtful.)

Australia isn’t the one place the place soiled fuels are celebrated at the same time as clear fuels are performing properly. A month after Texas Republicans used the February 2021 blackouts to bash wind vitality, wind was the primary supply of electrical energy on the Texas grid final March.