The combined output of rooftop solar and large-scale solar farms exceeded that of brown and black coal generation for the first time in Australia’s main grid in August 2021.

Quoting the OpenNEM data feed, solar exceeded the output of goal just after lunch on a Sunday, delivering a combined 9,427MW, or 41.2% of demand, compared to coal’s combined 9,315MW, a combined 41.1%.

The landmark reinforces the scale and pace of energy transition and supports AGL and Origin’s decision to abandon coal generation and adapting their businesses models to wind, solar and storage technology.

On the same Sunday that solar exceeded coal, the output of coal had fallen to a record low as soon as renewable energy hit a new high according to University of Melbourne Climate & Energy College energy systems research fellow Dylan McConnell.

This solar record was above the 56.1% high set in April 2021, but it was quickly eclipsed as the share of renewables hit a peak of 57.1% of demand at 12.35pm. Wind was providing 13.2% of demand at that time, and hydro 2.2%.

Energy prices fell across the board and all states had negative pricing events, particularly in South Australia, which is still constrained by the limits of transmission links to Victoria.

Wind and solar were providing around 100 per cent of all local demand in South Australia for much of the daylight hours, even though all its large scale solar farms – about 330MW of capacity at Bungala and Tailem Bend – and several wind farms turned themselves off to dodge the negative pricing events.