The eyes of the energy world are upon it, but the renewable energy transition in South Australia is probably one of the misunderstood, misreported and under-appreciated achievements of our time.

South Australia, for those who have not been paying attention, has dumped coal and now sources more than half its generation from wind and solar, becoming a net exporter rather than an importer of electricity along the way.

It now has plans to make that share of renewables “net 100 per cent” in a decade, and a multiple of that in the future. Given its location, at the end of a long and skinny grid with little connection to other markets, it is truly remarkable – and an inspiration to institutions, policy makers, consumers and the industry itself about what is possible.

What is also remarkable – at least in the context of Australia’s political environment – is that this is a bipartisan effort. The team that led the transition plan for Jay Weatherill’s Labor government has largely been kept intact by Steve Marshall’s Liberal government that took power early last year.

Sure, Labor and the Liberals have bickered and continue to do so over various aspects of policy design (notably the use of “targets” and the role of a new inter-connector), but the current state Liberal government is clearly as keen on this transition as its Labor predecessors.

The reasons are obvious: Cheaper green power and an opportunity to rebuild the state’s manufacturing industry and bring in new business.

Last week, Richard Day, the director Low Carbon Industry Development in the Clean Energy Transition Division of the SA Department for Energy and Mining (whose lengthy title probably includes at least four words that would be banned in its federal equivalent) gave a fascinating and detailed look into how the transition has occurred, and what is next.

We’ve decided to pluck out what we consider to be the best graphs and tables from his presentation.

This first graph plots the transition over the past 15 years, from the time when the state relied on a dirty supply of coal, gas, and imports from Victoria, through its first phase of wind and solar growth, to the new phase which is seeing large-scale solar and the world’s biggest lithium-ion batter battery (and other battery installations) added to the growing suite of wind and rooftop solar.

Note that South Australia is now a net exporter of electricity, something it wants to expand greatly, which we will come to later.