CANBERRA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The Australian state of South Australia has reached its renewable energy target (RET) of 50 percent almost eight years ahead of schedule, with the state government reporting that 53 percent of its energy came from wind and sun-based sources last year.
Despite taking criticism from the federal government in recent months for blackouts which affected the state - including one which left 100,000 homes without power, South Australia's Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis described the announcement as a "good thing", describing renewable energy as "the future".
"I am pleased that South Australia is leading the nation," Koutsantonis told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Monday.
"Renewable energy is the future."
Koutsantonis said that as South Australia continues to invest in renewable energies, such as at wind farms and through solar panels, the reliability and availability of secure renewable energy would increase.
The South Australian government's announcement comes a month after it said it would be spending a further 500 million Australian dollars (370 million U.S. dollars) to secure its own energy supplies with a new battery storage farm and a gas-fired power plant.
Currently, South Australia still relies on its neighboring state's energy supplies if demand gets too high.
