Image: Chris Olszewski, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Australia's utility scale solar farms delivered record monthly output in three states in August, at the same time as the share of that generation being curtailed, or switched off by the grid, dropped sharply from a year earlier.
New highs in three states
- NSW utility solar: 684 GWh in August, a new state record
- Queensland utility solar: 665 GWh in August, a new state record
- Victoria utility solar: 213 GWh in August, a new state record
Australia's combined utility scale solar and wind assets generated 4.99 terawatt hours over the month, up 3 percent on August last year, according to data reported by pv magazine Australia.
Curtailment down sharply
Curtailment of utility solar fell from 284 gigawatt hours in August 2025 to 168 gigawatt hours in August 2026, or from roughly 18 percent of available generation to about 9 percent. Curtailment happens when there is more solar and wind available than the grid can absorb, and generators are told to reduce output. Falling curtailment means more of the clean energy being built actually reaches homes and businesses.
The improvement follows rapid battery storage growth, which lets grid operators shift midday solar into the evening peak rather than switching solar farms off.