South Australia (SA1) experienced a period of very high renewable penetration at 95.4%, driven predominantly by wind generation at 1674.48 MW during the afternoon settlement period of 9 August 2026. Regional electricity prices remained moderate, fluctuating between $64.74 and $85.58/MWh across the seven consecutive 5-minute intervals, despite the elevated renewable contribution.
The high renewable penetration was directly supported by substantial wind output, whilst solar generation was zero during this afternoon period. Multiple binding constraints were active during this interval, with the highest marginal value of $55.84/MWh associated with constraint F_T+NIL_ML_RECL_L6, followed by constraint F_T+RREG_0050 at $35.19/MWh and constraint F_T+NIL_MG_R60 at $24.18/MWh, indicating that network limitations rather than fuel scarcity were constraining dispatch and influencing the observed price volatility across the settlement intervals.
Causal analysis generated by gridIQ's synthesis model from live AEMO market data: dispatch prices, generation mix, interconnector flows and market notices in the interval surrounding the event.