Need to examine Australia’s electricity system – Victorian network fault
Vic network fault causes outages in South Australia, conservatives blame renewables, REneweconomy By Giles Parkinson on 1 December 2016 A major fault on the Victorian transmission network overnight caused power outages in South Australia for up to an hour, and forced the Portland smelter in Victoria to also go offline.
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) said that at 01:33 AEDT on December 1, the South Australian power system separated from Victoria, due to an unknown issue on the Victorian transmission network
“The root cause still under investigation,” AEMO said, but added “it is important to note that this event was not related to the Black System event in South Australia on September 28.”
It is believed that the fault lay in an Ausnet feeder line to the Heywood Interconnector in Western Victoria, when a transmission line conductor “hit the ground.”…….
questions have been raised about the decisions by the market operator, which chose to take no preventative measures, and for many underlined the fragility of a centralised grid, and the risks of storms, bushfires and other outages on an elongated network.
It has led to calls for a think about the design of electricity markets, and a push to localised grid and local renewable generation. AGL CEO Andrew Vesey, and many others, said the best security could be offered by more localised generation, and that meant renewable energy, and more storage. http://reneweconomy.com.au/vic-network-fault-causes-outages-in-south-australia-conservatives-blame-renewables-84808/
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Electricity interconnectors are an integral part of the National Electricity Market – no interconnectors, no national market.
The market is run by the Australian Electricity Market Operator and regulated by the Federal Government. It is no coincidence that, when electricity supply from Victoria to SA is interrupted, Federal Energy Minister, Josh Frydenburg, tries to deflect criticism by blaming others (The Advertiser, 2/12/16).
Once again, it appears that the monopolistic electricity transmission network is to blame. Once again, power stations in SA gouged huge profits from electricity users.
In the days of Premier Tom Playford, such behaviour would have been tackled head on by nationalising electricity monopolies. Unfortunately, for short term, pro-privatisation inspired gain, Premier John Olsen saw fit to reverse the Playford initiative.
The political party that has the courage to nationalise electricity monopolies will do SA a great favour. It remains to be seen whether the SA business community can overcome its ideological objections to nationalisation in order to restore energy security in SA.
Dennis Matthews
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