We need to change how we control energy, AEMC says.

The nation's power grid has managed to retain enough generation capacity to keep the lights on as coal generators have closed but its reliability is still too weak because energy infrastructure was not designed for recent influx of solar and wind energy.

Australia has the supply to keep up with
demand, but our grid is not up to the task.

The situation is laid out in the Australian Energy Market Commission’s latest annual electricity market performance report to be released on Tuesday.

In the Reliability Panel report, the AEMC warned the east coast energy network could become unstable as it made the transition from coal to more gas and renewable energy generation unless action was taken to change how the grid functioned.

Read Cole Larimer’s story from The Age - “We need to change how we control energy, AEMC says.”

Renewable energy quietly steals the lead in South Africa

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olar, biomass and wind energy systems are popping up all over the country and feeding clean energy into the strained electrical grid, according to the Guardian.

“The howling wind drives the turbines, their blades bent back from the force as they spin in the evening light and send electricity to local villages in South Africa’s Eastern Cape.

“High up on the top of the turbine, local resident Lungela Vongu, dressed in a safety harness and hard hat leans far out over the 100 meter drop to check that the wind speed detector is working properly. “This wind farm is bringing a lot more jobs into this community for the people, without it there is no future here,” he says.

“The Cookhouse wind farm is the biggest wind system built in Africa, with 66 turbines generating 138MW of clean power. It started feeding the grid at the end of 2014 and it is far from unique,” The Guardian reports.

Read the Guardian story - “How renewable energy in South Africa is quietly stealing a march on coal”.