Welcome to the August 2019 issue of the NEEA Electricity Update, with data updated to theend of July 2019. The Electricity Update presents data on electricity demand, electricitysupply, and electricity generation emissions in the National Electricity Market (NEM), pluselectricity demand in the South West Interconnected System (SWIS).

Since the start of 2018 we have been charting the rapid growth in wind and solar generation. There can be no doubt that Australia’s electricity system is well along the road to a fundamental transition in terms of both the means by which electricity is generated and the system through which electricity is supplied to consumers. For this issue we have prepared some new graphs that show the transition over the more than twenty years since the National Electricity Market was launched, in December 1998.

In addition, we include a particular focus on South Australia, where thetransition is most advanced. Every few years possible risks to the security of Australia’s accessto petroleum fuels enters into the public debate, as has occurred over the past couple of weeks. As our contribution to the discussion, we have prepared a table which summarises where Australia sourced its oil imports last year.