COAG: Chief scientist to lead independent review of country’s energy system to help prevent future large-scale blackouts
SOUTH Australia is one step closer to being directly plugged into New South Wales’ energy grid after its government agreed to seriously consider an interconnector linking the two states.
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SOUTH Australia is one step closer to being directly plugged into New South Wales’ energy grid after its government agreed to seriously consider an interconnector linking the two states.
Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis labelled the agreement a “big step forward”.
NSW had been reluctant to pursue an interconnector because it would likely increase energy prices in the state.
An SA-NSW interconnector would provide SA with more options for bringing in and exporting energy into the state, which is currently only linked to Victoria.
“This is the first time that the NSW Government has agreed to work with their local based transmission supplier with the SA Government and our local based transmission supplier to work on a way to facilitate interconnection,” he said.
“That’s a big step forward for South Australians, it’s a big step forward for the nation because what has occurred over the past 10 years is the market has built renewable energy where the resources are and those resources are trapped in SA.”
NSW Energy Minister Anthony Roberts said his government would help “expedite” processes for assessing interconnection options and implementing any proposal.
“However, we need to see the detail that comes out of the feasibility study to assess the merits of the project for NSW energy suppliers and consumers,” he said.
Independent review of Australia’s energy systems
It comes as Australia’s chief scientist will lead an independent review of the country’s energy system to help prevent future large scale blackouts following an agreement of national energy ministers on Friday.
Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said Dr Alan Finkel’s inquiry would provide a “blueprint” for Australia’s power security to guide reforms of the national market ensuring energy security and affordability as the country relies more on renewables.
After the meeting in Melbourne on Friday, convened following SA’s statewide blackout, Mr Frydenberg did not rule out considering an Energy Intensity Scheme — essentially a price on carbon emissions — which has been pushed by South Australia’s Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis.
Mr Koutsantonis said that the meeting also heard from the Australian Energy Market Operator that the six wind farms that failed during the storm which triggered the statewide blackout went down because of a “technical glitch” not issues with wind itself.
Until AEMO released further reports it remains unclear, however, why once the interconnector was shut down the entire state blacked out.
Mr Frydenberg said while the storm was the principal reason for the blackout, the meeting also heard about broader issues to do with the reliability of wind and solar.
“They don’t have the frequency control ... that you would otherwise get from the generation of coal or gas or hydropower,” he said.
He said he was pleased that all ministers agreed their primary responsibility was to ensure the “security, reliability and affordability” of the energy system.
“We have an obligation as energy ministers from states from territories and from the commonwealth to work together to find common ground to deliver a collective response which ensures that we have a stable electricity system with energy security, that we have an affordable energy system which creates jobs, investment and growth and that we stick to our international targets to transition to a lower emission future,” Mr Frydenberg said.
The Finkel review will consider what contributed the SA blackout and make recommendations on what reforms to the national market are required get more renewable energy into the market while retaining reliability and affordability.
It is planned that a preliminary report will be prepared when the Prime Minister and state premiers meet in December with a final report in the new year.
Mr Koutsantonis said there was a “constructive discussion” about an Emissions Intensity Scheme, which the SA Government believes would be an efficient way to towards a cleaner national energy market partly through making gas prices more competitive.
“I’m basically espousing the policy that Malcolm Turnbull was espousing in 2009,” he said.
When asked about an EIS, Mr Frydenberg said he would not prejudge the outcomes of the 2017 review.
“(But) an ElS doesn’t actually deal with the immediate problems we have which is the stability of the system,” he said.
“We’d like to see more gas generation. Gas will be vitally important but the EIS is not the only way to generate more gas power you can do that through various other means.”