Welcome to the September 2018 issue of the NEEA Electricity Update, with data updated to the end of August 2018.

The Electricity Update is the companion publication to the quarterly National Energy Emissions Audit Report, the next issue which is being published alongside the Electricity Update. The Electricity Update presents data on electricity demand, electricity supply, and electricity generation emissions in the National Electricity Market (NEM), plus electricity demand in the South West Interconnected System (SWIS).

Each issue of Electricity Update contains a more detailed discussion of one or two particular issues relating to the electricity system. In this issue we focus on the record levels of renewable generation right across the NEM in August, together with the start of the boom in new wind and solar generators connecting to the NEM. We also comment on the apparent inability of the Business Council of Australia (BCA) to read relatively straightforward graphs and understand relatively straightforward text, as expressed in the criticism of recent NEEA reports in an article by the BCA’s Chief Executive, Jennifer Westacott, published in the Australian Financial Review on August 29.