SA Government Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis says miner BHP will need its own back-up power at Olympic Dam to avoid blackouts
TREASURER Tom Koutsantonis has warned BHP Billiton it will need to put in its own back-up power systems at Olympic Dam to completely eliminate the risk of future blackouts.
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TREASURER Tom Koutsantonis has warned BHP Billiton it will need to put in its own back-up power systems at Olympic Dam to completely eliminate the risk of future blackouts, while insisting that the State Government has done everything possible to support an expansion.
There has been a rare outbreak of public brawling between the Government and SA’s biggest miner in recent weeks, after the company recorded a $137 million loss from the statewide blackout in September and warned that power insecurity has put expansion plans at risk.
A new report from the Australian Energy Market Operator released late yesterday also confirmed the mine had its power supply almost halved in the early hours of December 1 last year.
In that mass overnight blackout, SA lost supply as a major cable from Victoria failed.
The power cut at Olympic Dam was part of a suite of measures aimed at stabilising the system, including emergency measures which prevented a dangerous collapse in network frequency.
Mr Koutsantonis yesterday told Question Time it was beyond the power of any Government to ensure an unbroken power supply, again blaming the statewide blackout on a severe storm.
“There is no way that any government can guarantee continuous supply in the face of weather events,” he said.
“If BHP want to have continuous supply regardless of the conditions that they are operating in, regardless of whatever occurs to the national electricity grid then they will need to put in their own redundancy. “No government can guarantee that level of continuous supply.”
Opposition energy spokesman Dan van Holst Pellekaan said the Government “blames everyone else for its own problems” and was failing to create the environment needed for jobs.
“From the moment the Port Augusta power station closed, we have been reliant on importing coal energy from Victoria,” he said.
“We haven’t saved the environment, because as much coal is still being burnt as ever. All the Government did was export the jobs to Victoria.”
Mr Koutsantonis said: “This government has done everything we possibly can to facilitate the expansion and development of our mineral resources and energy”.
“We have, I think, an unblemished record in our support for the mining industry.”
