Australian Energy Market Operator orders 10 SA wind farms to limit generation after statewide electricity blackout
TEN South Australian wind farms have been ordered to limit generation in the wake of the disastrous statewide power blackout because the national electricity market operator has declared they have not performed properly.
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TEN South Australian wind farms have been ordered to limit generation in the wake of the disastrous statewide power blackout because the national electricity market operator has declared they have not performed properly.
The state’s biggest wind farm, at Snowtown, is among those which the Australian Energy Market Operator has targeted in its “management and analysis” of last Wednesday’s unprecedented power outage as it gradually restores the power network.
The move will prompt further questions over whether renewable energy jeopardised electricity grid stability and triggered the cascading blackout, which started when fierce winds damaged 23 Mid North transmission towers and severed three high-voltage lines.
Premier Jay Weatherill, who on Tuesday revealed former police commissioner Gary Burns would lead an independent review into the catastrophic storms and power outage, said he expects a preliminary report from the national electricity market operator by late on Wednesday.
The 10 wind farms, all but one in the Mid North, were the subject of a national electricity market notice issued late on Monday night, in which AEMO says it is not satisfied that a failure, or trip, of multiple generators, following another disruption to the grid is “unlikely to re-occur”.
Asked to explain, an AEMO spokesman said it had been established that some South Australian generators “had not performed as AEMO would have expected” but did not say whether this was before or after the statewide blackout.
“While further analysis needs to be undertaken to identify the cause (of the statewide blackout) and any remedial steps, AEMO must continue to manage the power system to avoid any further risk,” the spokesman said, in a statement to The Advertiser.
He said the power grid’s security could be maintained, in the face of a credible perceived threat, by limiting generators’ output or the flow on transmission lines to “minimise the risk of a significant supply/demand imbalance”.
AEMO did not respond to The Advertiser’s questions about whether the wind farms in some way contributed to a cascading power grid shutdown, once the high-voltage pylons were toppled.
Announcing Mr Burns’ appointment, Mr Weatherill said he would examine the circumstances surrounding the storm and consider the state’s plans for prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.
This would include the loss of about 50 embryos belonging to 12 families when a backup generator failed at Flinders Medical Centre and why a test just two days before the blackout did not identify the fault.
Mr Burns will report by the end of the year on any deficiencies and recommend changes but can issue preliminary findings beforehand, if necessary.
But he will not examine the electricity system, which will be probed by three other inquiries, including one to be triggered by an emergency national energy ministers meeting on Friday to discuss the statewide blackout.
Liberal employment spokesman Corey Wingard on Tuesday declared the Burns inquiry too narrow, saying it would not adequately deal with fundamental questions about the state’s electricity system.
Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis, in a letter to the Australian Energy Market Commission in July, warned issues were already emerging in South Australia in managing the transition to renewable energy and said this prompted the need to assess continued security of the power network.
But Mr Koutsantonis yesterday flatly declared: “The state has not gone black because of renewable energy. The only wind that caused any harm to our grid was the wind energy pushing over our towers.”