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South Australia’s global leadership in renewable energy celebrated in new campaign

We’ve been known as the Festival State and the Wine State, but South Australia has taken on a mantle we can genuinely say is leading the world – we are the renewables state.

All of Adelaide and the whole state can already be entirely run at times on electricity from renewable energy sources – specifically the sun and wind ­– and we are heading to a situation where this will become a regular occurrence.

About a third of homes and businesses – some 300,000 – have installed rooftop solar, plus we are starting to see the take-up of batteries accelerating due to state government incentives and falling prices.

Sometime in the next few months, South Australia is expected to become the first gigawatt-scale grid in the world to meet all its demand just from rooftop solar.

This milestone has been predicted by the Australian Energy Market Operator in its recently released Electricity Statement of Opportunities – its annual assessment of demand and supply needs for the next 10 years.

Paul Roberts, head of corporate affairs at SA Power Networks, said to celebrate this international leadership in integrating renewable energy sources into the state’s energy system, SA Power Networks has launched a new advertising campaign today.

“South Australians may not know, so we’re sharing and celebrating the fact that we are leading the world in powering our lives on renewable energy,” Roberts said.

“The campaign asks South Australians to imagine the ‘Power of possibility’ being created by our energy transition, which can lead to better health and social outcomes plus a growing economy based on clean energy from the sun and wind.

Roberts said that to a large degree the state’s energy transition has been driven by South Australian energy customers investing in solar and supporting a renewables-based system.

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“The days of us just managing a one-way electricity distribution network are over,” he said.

“Today we manage more than 1,100kW of energy coming into the energy system from people’s solar panels – collectively the biggest generator in South Australia.

“With the massive investment in large-scale solar and wind farms and rooftop solar, at times we can already supply the entire system from renewable energy sources.”

Roberts said there is no other system in the world of our size doing that or able to do that.

“With this campaign, we want to acknowledge and celebrate this amazing transition that we’re all a part of – both in helping make it happen and sharing in the benefits,” he said.

The Power of Possibility is a South Australian production conceived with SA Power Networks strategic creative partner NATION, directed by Roh Smith and produced by Leona Cichon of Firebox Films.

“Our campaign proudly features our own people because they’re electricity consumers, passionate about energy and contributing to the rapid and exciting changes underway across the energy sector,” Roberts said.

“This is a campaign that every South Australian can be proud of.”

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