According to the National Electricity Market (NEM) of Australia, renewables covered slightly more than half (50.2%) of total power demand in the states of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia for about 10 minutes on 6 November 2019. Rooftop solar power covered 23.7% of the total power demand, with wind covering 15.7%, large-scale solar 8.8% and hydropower 1.9%. At the same time, coal remained the largest energy source, with 49.2% (35.7% from coal and 13.5% from lignite). Over the entire day, renewables covered 31.2% of the electricity demand in the five states covered by the NEM.
The rapid growth in renewable capacity in Australia, especially solar systems (and rooftop solar), has contributed to the surge in renewable power generation in the last few years. The share of renewables (excluding hydropower) in power generation has more than tripled since 2010, from 3.3% to 11.6% in 2018 (from 8.6% to 19.6% including hydropower). Renewables now cover nearly 20% of the gross electricity consumption, up from 8.6% in 2010. This share is expeccted to rise to 35% within two years.
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