SA power crisis: State faces 125 days of electricity shortages over next two years
SOUTH Australia is facing 125 days of power shortages over the next two years, and a high risk of summer blackouts, according to new data that has sparked urgent calls for action.
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SOUTH Australia is facing 125 days of power shortages over the next two years, and a high risk of summer blackouts, according to new data that has sparked urgent calls for action.
Latest data from the Australian Energy Market Operator shows it expects SA to regularly run below reserve power levels starting from November, increasing the chance of forced blackouts.
AEMO seeks to maintain a buffer of available supply in the energy system as insurance against unexpected failures, such as the Torrens Island fire this month that almost caused another statewide blackout.
Its latest update shows SA eating into that buffer for 125 days in the next two years. That compares with 72 in Victoria, and none in the other states on the national grid.
On Tuesday, AEMO will also release its final report into the statewide blackout last September.
It has previously said a major storm was the root cause, but is yet to fully clarify the role of different energy sources in the subsequent “cascade” of events that created “system black”.
AEMO says it hopes the market will respond to the new shortfall forecasts by bringing on more supply, or shifting planned maintenance away from danger days, to prevent forced blackouts.
“Any low energy reserve conditions forecast are based on conservative estimates of supply and extreme weather conditions and do not translate to real energy shortfalls,” an AEMO spokesman said.
“It also assumes an average level of network maintenance would occur. In reality, there would be no maintenance planned for a 40 plus degree day.”
AEMO says it is attempting to make up for the closure of Victoria’s massive Hazelwood coal-fired power station by getting more power from other generators that have been switched off.
SA Opposition energy spokesman Dan van Holst Pellekaan said the State Government’s radical expansion of wind power was undermining reliable supply and raising the blackout risk.
“The State Government’s policy has forced the closure of the Port Augusta power station, and we’re about to have Hazelwood close this week,” he said.
“Of course we must have a well-managed transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy, but the State Government’s overzealous push to try and do it overnight has left us with insufficient baseload capacity and overly-reliant on intermittent sources.
“We’re now into this risk zone far more often than we’ve ever been before.”
Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said the energy plan he released earlier this month included measures aimed at safeguarding SA’s summer energy supply, and further could be done.
“AEMO’s reports are designed to send a signal to the market, so the expectation is that generators will plan to make more electricity supply available when it is required,” he said.
“The second unit at Pelican Point could also come back into the market before summer.
“However, we are now seeing supply shortfalls and price spikes across the National Electricity Market, because the Federal Government has refused to implement policy solutions that are required to drive investment in new electricity generation.
“The State Liberal Party doesn’t have a plan and has become increasingly irrelevant, especially in terms of energy policy.”
