Melbourne gets its first taste of summer: blackouts

Thousands of people were left without power as the temperature in Melbourne reached 40.1C on Wednesday.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: AAP

Thousands of people were left without power as the temperature in Melbourne reached 40.1C on Wednesday, with more blackouts likely this week.

Premier Daniel Andrews warned that Friday, with a forecast top temperature of 43C, would be a “challenging” day.

He blamed “unreliable” coal-fired power generators, dismissing the opposition’s argument that his government’s ambitious renewable energy target and lack of a plan for baseload power supply had made Victoria’s power more expensive and less reliable.

Mr Andrews said his government was working closely with the Australian Energy Market Operator to prevent blackouts.

“We also work with the privatised operators of our big power ­stations to do everything we possibly can to ensure there’s enough power,” the Premier said.

“The problem with coal-fired power is when you need it most it is the least reliable. On the really ­extreme demand days, where we need the most ­energy, we have over recent years seen that form of electricity generation be least reliab­le. That’s why we are investing like no other government in renewa­ble energy.”

Power went out for about 3000 Powercor customers in the southwestern Melbourne suburb of Werribee about 4pm on Wednesday. About 2000 customers ­remained without power late on Wednesday, a spokesman for the company confirmed, with the cause “under investigation”.

Wider blackouts were averted when 500 megawatts of additional supply was made available.

Victoria’s demand for electricity on Wednesday was expected to peak at 9000MW, well short of the record of 10,500MW.

Victorian opposition energy spokesman Ryan Smith accused Mr Andrews of “basically surrendering (to blackouts) for the rest of summer”. “This government was elected to provide basic services to Victorians, be it healthcare, be it education, be it running water, and certainly an expectation that the lights will stay on,” Mr Smith said.

“The government’s energy polic­y has led to nothing more than higher energy prices and less certainty of supply, and the fact that the government’s finally comin­g out today and saying that they can’t guarantee power for the rest of this summer is an indictment on the government and shows us that they have no clear plan to provide base supply.”