Osborne shipyards to get emergency electricity supply in case SA power network fails — again
POWER generators will be installed at Adelaide’s Osborne shipyard in case the state’s electricity supply fails again — as Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne compares SA’s power infrastructure to “a backpacker’s hostel in a Third World country”.
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POWER generators with enough fuel to run for five days will be installed at Adelaide’s Osborne shipyard’s in case South Australia’s electricity supply fails again.
Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne has compared the state’s power infrastructure to “a backpacker’s hostel in a Third World country” as he revealed the Federal Government would spend millions of dollars to guarantee the supply of electricity to the shipyards.
Mr Pyne said a secure supply of power to the ASC at Osborne was vital to the Government’s submarine, frigate and offshore patrol vessel building programs.
“Defence is having to advise me that we will need to build our own supplementary power generation at the Osborne ship and submarine yards, plus the fuel storage required to run those generators,’’ Mr Pyne told Parliament.
“We cannot rely on the power supply in South Australia not to go out, putting at risk that major project employing 5000 workers in South Australia alone.’’
Mr Pyne said the Federal Government would ensure that the site could be supplied during a blackout lasting up to five days.
“Power in South Australia is more akin to what you would expect in a backpacker’s hostel in a Third World country,’’ he said.
The Federal Government has been critical of the South Australian Government’s energy policies ever since the September statewide blackout.
Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis accused the Federal Government of spending “a huge amount of taxpayer dollars in order to score a political point”.
“The managers of the Common User Facility at Techport have advised the State Government that the reliability of power supply is not and has not been an issue,” he said.
“Recent power outages in South Australia have been caused by an unprecedented series of storms they have resulted in a three-fold increase in SES callouts, ripped transmission towers from the ground and caused massive damage to the network of poles and wires.
“It doesn’t matter what the generation source is, if the power lines connecting generation to homes and businesses are destroyed, the power goes out.
“To suggest otherwise is completely disingenuous, as is criticising the use of wind and solar generation in South Australia when it is in fact the Federal Government that subsidises renewables to operate.
“It is also misleading to suggest it is the State Government that has to work to restore power after these events - it is private companies that do that work because Mr Pyne’s Liberal party sold ETSA to foreign interests.”