Don’t accept power blackouts as new norm, says Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg

SOUTH Australians should not accept major blackouts as the new norm because energy security should be the number one priority, says federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg.

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SOUTH Australians should not accept major blackouts as the new norm because energy security should be the number one priority, says federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg.

In an escalating blame game over the blackout to 200,000 homes early on Thursday, Mr Frydenberg said the state’s third major outage this year was unacceptable.

Renewing attacks on SA’s world-leading renewable electricity generation — 41 per cent — Mr Frydenberg said transition must be managed without sacrificing energy security and affordability.

“When it comes to energy security, South Australia is the canary in the coal mine and the canary is looking pretty sick right now,” he told The Advertiser.

“While the (latest blackout’s) cause is under investigation, it is clear is that South Australia was again unable to keep the lights on when disconnected from the national electricity grid.

“This isn’t good enough, and South Australians should not accept this as the new norm. They deserve better.”

Mr Frydenberg said practical and cost-effective outcomes should be put ahead of ideology when attempting to solve the problem.

State Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said the incident had demonstrated that SA had more than sufficient thermal (gas-powered) generation to meet the 1400 megawatt demand at the time.

He stressed the loss of 220MW to SA was caused by an unspecified fault on the Victorian transmission network, which affected the flow via the high-voltage interconnector to SA.

But the majority of the remaining 1200MW generation had been coming from SA and, therefore, had been relatively quickly restored when load shedding was required to rebalance the grid’s frequency — a technical requirement to maintain supply.

“Last night proved we have enough thermal generation to manage our own system,” Mr Koutsantonis said.

“ ... We (SA) are basically a very good, diversified electricity generator. The problem we have is we don’t have a cheap, available amount of gas.

“I’d reassure South Australians that, fundamentally, our system is sound.”

Mr Koutsantonis said reliable and affordable gas was critical to fuel generation in Australia for decades and highlighted national reforms, pushed by him and Mr Frydenberg, to boost supply.

“We’ve got the most efficient thermal gas-fired generator in the country here in South Australia, at Pelican Point, and the way the national electricity market is structured it’s not efficient for them to have the entire thing running all the time,” he said.

Australian Energy Council chief executive Matthew Warren, whose group represents 21 major electricity and energy companies, said the latest blackout was a reminder that the SA grid was now more fragile and increasingly reliant on power from Victoria via the high-voltage interconnector.

“When that supply is interrupted, and when the wind and sun aren’t shining, the state is more vulnerable to blackouts,” Mr Warren said.

“Unfortunately in the short term, South Australian can’t be confident that it has a reliable energy supply.

“Securing firm, dispatchable generation within South Australia is essential to the state managing upcoming heatwaves, as well as future cold snaps and periods of high demand.”

Mr Warren urged a national energy and climate strategy to sort out the cheapest and most reliable solutions amid the drive to reduce carbon emissions.