SA leads in wind power

Wind power now accounts for more than a quarter of South Australia’s electricity generation, according to a report from advisory and analysis firm EnergyQuest.
A report from EnergyQuest this week said wind generated 26 percent of SA’s power in 2011, compared with 3 percent nationally.
EnergyQuest chief Graeme Bethune described the growth of wind power in SA as “extraordinary.”
“Five years ago it was less than 1 percent, in 2011 it hit 26 percent,” he said. The 2010 figure for SA wind was 18 percent.
“The theory was always that wind is very intermittent, so it wouldn’t displace baseload power and would need to be backed up. But in fact that doesn’t seem to be the case,” said Bethune. SA has  more than half the nation’s installed capacity last year, and so far about $2.8 billion has been invested in wind power, creating more than 3000 direct and indirect jobs. Bethune said Victoria and Tasmania had the next highest levels of wind power generation.
EnergyQuest says 80 per cent of electricity generated in the National Electricity Market (NEM) last year was fuelled by coal. Just 11 per cent came from gas, six per cent came from hydro and three per cent was powered by wind, very similar to the 2010 mix.