Oh dear:
More than 2000 megawatts of thermal generation failed during NSW’s power scare earlier this month, when AGL asked Australia’s largest smelter to curtail its production for more than three hours to avoid blackouts across the state.
A report by the Australian Energy Market Operator confirmed plant outages on the afternoon of February 10 at AGL’s Liddell power station (1000 megawatts capacity), Snowy Hydro’s Colongra (724 megawatts) and EnergyAustralia’s Tallawarra gas plants (440 megawatts) contributed to the shortfall of power reserves during the heatwave which gripped the eastern states.
…With the spotlight on the performance of renewable energy such as wind and solar during the SA black outs, the failure of thermal generators to help ease the pressure on the NSW power network will embarrass coal and gas advocates who say they are more reliable than intermittent generation.
Similar brownouts have been plaguing QLD’s coal-fired grid all year. It was also coal and gas that failed in SA.
The grid needs a sensible debate about:
- National Energy Market reform;
- gas market reform;
- storage incentives and carbon pricing.
Good luck!
