SA power blackouts: Damaged interconnector cuts off SA from rest of the country
Restoring power to SA will take longer than the 2016 statewide blackout, households have been warned – as the main electricity interconnector with Victoria is crippled.
SA News
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South Australia is cut off from the rest of the country after Saturday’s storm tore a path of destruction and sparked widespread chaos, causing the state’s worst power blackout.
At least 163,000 customers, which could affect as many as 480,000 South Australians based on a three-person household, are in darkness amid concerns electricity supplies won’t be restored for several days.
SA Power Networks spokesperson Paul Roberts told ABC Radio on Monday morning in comparison to the 2016 statewide blackout “it’s going to take much longer to restore power”.
“The statewide blackout was essentially reorganising the supply in the network and building us back up from zero supply to be able to generate the state, whereas this is actually about rebuilding the network,” he said.
Mr Roberts advised the majority of customers will have power back by the end of Tuesday, but warned there “will be some stragglers who will probably be without power into Wednesday” including some regional and metropolitan areas.
He explained a priority system dictates where crews are sent, with the biggest outages at the top of the list.
“It takes us just as long to restore power for a single customer,” Mr Roberts said.
It comes as the state has been cut off from Australia’s electricity grid.
The main electricity interconnector with Victoria was crippled from a damaged tower near Tailem Bend, almost 100km southeast of Adelaide.
The SES responded to more than 800 calls for assistance from midnight on Sunday to approximately 2pm on Monday.
While, SA Power Networks is still working to restore more than 225 outages, calling in back-up from NSW for the first time in several years.
More than 30 schools were closed on Monday and police scrambled to avoid morning peak-hour traffic chaos, issuing a plea for driver safety amid crashes at blacked-out intersections.
Some northern regional communities have no Telstra service and can’t contact emergency services on triple-0 (000), police said.
These include Booborowie, Burra, Copley, Gidgealpa, Hallet, Leigh Creek, Marree, Nepabunna and Yeelanna, a spokesman said.
The insurance bill is feared to be hundreds of millions of dollars as business owners discard stock and perishable food.
“I’ve had people asking, ‘what about the food in the fridge?’, that should be covered by home and business insurance,” Mr Roberts said.
“Because it’s a storm event we can’t be held responsible; it’s a natural event.”
He said customers will automatically receive credit towards their power bills.
“They will get a payment for the inconvenience for loss of power,” he said.
Authorities urged households to switch off rooftop solar panels to avoid SA having “too much” energy.
An ElectraNet spokesman said this to ensure “system stability” due to supplies being cut with Australia as its engineers work to fix the tower.
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens chaired a snap meeting of the State Emergency Management Committee late on Sunday, which included officials from major agencies including Premier and Cabinet, Energy, Transport and Infrastructure, SA Health and SES.
Appealing for patience, Mr Stevens urged people to check on “vulnerable” relatives and friends in the coming days.
He said an emergency declaration was not being considered at this point, but another crisis meeting was due to be held on Tuesday.
“This sort of severe weather event don’t happen all the time but this is the time we need to think about others,” he told The Advertiser.
“Show some patience and tolerance. Understand the emergency services responding to these events are dealing with hundreds of calls, which are equally important.”
Senior government sources say at this time of year, SA’s electricity grid would be exported interstate, especially to Victoria.
The Australian Energy Market Operator assured the state’s transmission network was “in a secure operating state”.
On Sunday night Premier Peter Malinauskas called for calm.
“Over the past 48 hours we’ve seen Mother Nature in full force,” he said.
“Storms have cut a swath through our suburbs and towns, flooding homes and businesses, and felling trees, branches and powerlines.
“I feel for those without power and have been assured that SA Power Networks is working at speed to restore it.
“I am relieved and grateful there has been no reported loss of life or serious injury.
“I want to thank our volunteer and professional emergency services personnel, along with other frontline workers who are doing their level best to help.”
More than one in five households and businesses have been affected by outages since Saturday after a storm tore across the state, felling trees and damaging buildings.
More than 423,000 lightning strikes were recorded while and wind gusts of at least 100 km/h were recorded from the mini cyclone.
Nearly 500 reports of wires down, with the southern suburbs and Adelaide Hills worst hit.
Senior police were also on Sunday night urgently developing a traffic management plan amid concerns to avoid peak-hour chaos from hundreds of failed signals.
In Stirling, Miss Perez Kitchen and Bar was forced to close its doors for the weekend, costing valuable trade and all its fridge and freezer stock.
Owner Hannah Maher said she tried to save some of the produce, but didn’t anticipate the power being off for more than 24 hours.
“We visited the restaurant a few times to try to save what we can, but it’s too late now,” she said. “It’s absolutely devastating to our small family run business.”
Eden Hills couple, John and Christine Mudge, have been left in the dark and with no mobile phone reception, were left worried.
“If we go much longer we’re going to have to work out what to do with the freezer but we’re coping,” Mr Mudge said.
Confusion has been rife in the local community as residents condemned no outage updates.
“I’ve talked to our neighbours a couple of times and none of them have heard anything about when we’ll be back either,” Mr Mudge said.
After two years of Covid-19 cancellations, the storm threw another hurdle at the annual Blackwood Rotary Club Christmas Fair.
Having braced for rain, the Club’s work washed away within 10 minutes from the wild weather. Club president Lyn Muller estimated the damage bill around $25,000.
“We’ve lost tents and shelters, $1000 worth of books are trashed and we don’t know if the sound equipment will work again,” she said.
The Club will be donating cakes and other food to the local food bank.
Stirling resident Louise Pfeiffer with husband Phil Crawford and their two boys Sebastian, 12 and Orlando, 9 channelled their creative spirit while waiting out the power outage.
The family are eating their way through their fridge and stocked freezer, starting with the perishables and childhood favourites – icy poles.
“My first thought was what will lose its shape … right dinner is pancakes and ice cream,” Mrs Pfeiffer said.
“It has made me realise that these severe weather events aren’t going away and we need to be more prepared.”
The family are passing the time playing vintage battery powered video games and attempting a 1000 piece puzzle.
Mr Roberts said it had employed hundreds of people to help with the clean-up and restoration, including NSW reinforcements.
“We’re getting three 24 man crews from NSW with their trucks and equipment … they will be travelling overnight and tomorrow so they’ll be a while,” he said.
An SES spokesman said most call-outs were for fallen trees and damaged roofs leaking water.
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