Australian Energy Market Operator won’t take responsibility for SA blackouts

THE besieged national power grid operator has firmly rejected accusations it did not allow Pelican Point to generate extra electricity to avert power cuts to 90,000 homes and businesses.

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THE besieged national power grid operator has firmly rejected accusations it did not allow Pelican Point to generate extra electricity to avert power cuts to 90,000 homes and businesses.

In a statement issued Friday night, the Australian Energy Market Operator said Wednesday’s emergency load shedding was a last resort following a combination of factors near the evening power peak.

“Based on where our investigations are at, AEMO does not accept public statements being made questioning AEMO’s capability or that we didn’t manage the power system in a safe, secure state,” the statement says. “Further, AEMO does not accept the assertions that some generators that were available to enter into the market could do so.”

Federal Labor energy spokesman Mark Butler and state Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis have accused the market operator of choosing not to turn on a second generator at Pelican Point on Wednesday afternoon, saying this would have stopped the blackouts.

It comes as a top bureaucrat says SA – and the nation – could solve the growing energy crisis if two cables were built to better connect the state and Tasmania to the national grid.

Oliver Yates, the Federal Government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation chief executive, told a Senate committee yesterday that two new interconnectors would “drive down prices”.

AEMO dismissed criticism it was “asleep at the wheel” but did concede its demand prediction and weather forecast fell well short of actual conditions.

Mr Yates explained that when SA’s electricity price was recently $14,000/MWh and Victoria’s was about $200/MWh, it was because not enough power was able to be moved from one state to another.

“That is happening all around the eastern (Australian) energy markets,” he said.

“We’re a big promoter of trying to get both the Basslink second cable in place and seeing SA put another cable in because ... if you allow commodities to move efficiently, it will drive down prices.”

John Bradley, the chief executive of transmission industry body, Energy Networks Australia, cautioned against pointing fingers.

“Trying to rush to judgment on blame is part of the problem,” he told the committee.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull stepped up his attack on the SA Government, which he said had “aggressively” driven the large proportion of renewables in the SA energy market.

“They have not taken into account the need to provide back-up for it. They haven’t put in place any energy storage. They haven’t done anything on pumped hydro, for example,” Mr Turnbull said.

He also said load shedding could be done without impacting on households if it was “controlled and planned”.

Describing SA’s blackouts as “hiccups”, Mr Butler accused the Government of seizing upon the blackout for political purposes.

Mr Butler said there was no supply problem in SA, because the state had enough generation to meet demand. He said the load shedding would have been avoided if the AEMO had directed the gas-fired Pelican Point plant to operate a second generator.

In a heated exchange at the committee hearing in Canberra, SA Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young accused AEMO of being “asleep at the wheel”. “How did you stuff it up so bad?” she asked.

AEMO corporate development executive general manager David Swift said there were many “moving parts”.

Yesterday, NSW was on the brink of supply shortages but its state government called on industrial consumers to reduce their demand to prevent blackouts. The head of the NSW Tomago aluminium smelter, who ramped down their operations on request, labelled the need to shut down a disgrace.

— with Paul Starick