Blackout warning: SA could be hit with rolling power outages amid energy crisis

SA faces a series of blackouts to protect the power grid – but the federal Energy Minister is confident there’s enough electricity “for the foreseeable future”.

South Australia is still facing rolling blackouts on Friday in a further escalation of the energy crisis.

The market operator is forecasting low electricity reserves on Friday from 7.30am to 9am and again from 5pm to 7pm.

State Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said on Tuesday night told AEMO’s board, meeting in Adelaide, that the national market’s structure was broken, because private generators were able to “pretty much charge what they like”, then withdraw capacity when regulators tried to intervene.

READ MORE: Are you next on the blackout hit list?

Premier Peter Malinauskas said there was a “market failure on a grand scale”. Picture Mark Brake

But Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said on Tuesday he was “confident” there was enough supply to avoid the emergency measures, which involve a series of forced blackouts to stabilise the system.

AEMO on Tuesday afternoon issued LOR3 (lack of reserve) notices for Wednesday and Friday in SA, which means controlled load shedding “may be required as a last resort to protect system security and prevent long-term damage to system infrastructure”.

The LOR3 triggered for Wednesday was rescinded later on Tuesday night.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The LOR3 notice is issued when the available electricity supply is equal to or less than demand. This means there are no reserve supplies available, so the market operator intervenes to seek more generators to fire up to boost supplies.

AEMO on Tuesday afternoon said it “continued to encourage generators” to stem low reserves on Wednesday night and emphasised the forecasting process was automated, meaning capacity might not be shown until just before units fired up.

On Tuesday afternoon, Mr Bowen warned Australians faced a “bumpy winter” ahead, but remained confident there was enough electricity in the market to prevent load shedding and blackouts “for the foreseeable future”.

“AEMO has advised me that the current supply for Victoria and South Australia is satisfactory for their purposes. Australians can have confidence that the regulators and the market operator are world-class,” he said.

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