Batteries, hydro could have prevented South Australia’s statewide blackout, expert report says — but it would be hugely expensive

SOUTH Australia’s embarrassing statewide blackout last summer could have been prevented, a report for the nation’s chief scientist says.

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SOUTH Australia’s embarrassing statewide blackout last summer could have been prevented, a report for the nation’s chief scientist says.

The independent expert study found $800 million could buy 600 megawatts of fast-responding batteries — six times the Tesla battery in Jamestown — which would have stopped widespread blackouts.

The State Government will likely seize on the report to back its $550 million energy plan announced this year which includes a 100MW battery and grant funding for other storage projects.

But critics will say it shows SA’s rush into renewable energy could have been better planned to prevent the power crisis that swept the state last summer.

The Australian Council of Learned Academies report being released today found it would cost $36.5 billion for pumped hydro and batteries needed to make the national grid secure and reliable if 75 per cent of power was from renewables.

The report investigated the role of energy storage and shows that Australia has a wealth of natural advantages that could aid the development of new industries and exports and create jobs in mining and manufacturing.

But it warns that without proper planning and investment in energy storage, electricity costs in Australia would continue to rise and electricity supply would become less reliable.

“Given our natural resources and our technical expertise, energy storage could represent a major new export industry for our nation,” Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel said.

An expert panel, led by Dr Bruce Godfrey, found that 600 megawatts of battery storage could have prevented the September 28, 2016 blackout.

The batteries could also ensure SA had uninterrupted electricity supplies for two hours if the interconnector with Victoria failed.

“At today’s storage prices, some $A800 million would provide up to two hours of supply from these batteries, ample time to respond to the contingency by ramping up reserve generation,’’ the report said.

“So, it is likely that with sufficient fast responding batteries, the blackout would have been prevented or much less widespread.”

The report is being released ahead of a crucial energy policy meeting between federal and state ministers in Hobart on Friday. It also found that wind generation which shut down during the 2016 blackout “could have been part of a solution’’.

“Had the correct fault settings been in place to ride through the voltage disturbance, the more recently installed wind turbines could themselves have provided synthetic inertia with suitable control settings,’ the report said.

Increasing the proportion of electricity sourced from renewables in Australia to 75 per cent would require a massive increase in storage from about 1.3 GW to 35.2 GW. About 2 GW of that would likely come from the massive expansion of the Snowy Mountains pumped hydro project.