This summer was always going to be a test for the NEM. And while previous hot spells have not resulted in major blackouts in capital cities, almost 50,000 homes in Victoria were without power at the peak of problems yesterday on the state’s electricity grids.
Critics of renewable energy and some Liberal Party politicians were quick to take up the opportunity to criticise the Victorian state government and network operators for failing to prevent the blackouts. More specifically, some directly took shots at policies that “allowed” aging coal generators to close.
Power out? 40,000 homes are now without power in 37 degree heat. Daniel Andrews Labor allowed a power station to close just to get Green preferences – politics over policy, it's in Labor's DNA.
— Matthew Guy MP (@MatthewGuyMP) January 28, 2018
With more than 15,000 homes without power throughout Monday, when temperatures remained above 35C in much of the state, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews held a press conference to point the finger of blame at network operators rather than generators.
“This was not a power supply issue, this was about distribution and localized faults,” said Andrews at a press conference today. “They are the facts. I know that doesn’t do much to ease the obvious frustrations that many Victorians faced overnight.”
Andrews said that the government was looking at ways network operators could be compelled to offer compensation to those affected by power outages.
Rooftop solar, which has been shown to depress electricity demand during the day and therefore assist grids cope with high demand for air conditioning, did not help reduce the peak, according to Energy Networks Australia.
Andrew Dillon, Energy Networks Australia CEO, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that while he could confirm that the issues were “not at the generation side”, rooftop PV had shifted demand rather than reduced it.
“What solar power has done is certainly well and truly clicked the load off at midday, and it has helped with these peaks at 3:00pm or 4:00pm,” said Dillon. “But what it’s effectively tended to do is shift them to later in the day, so now we’re starting to see the network peak doesn’t happen until 6:00pm or 7:00pm.”
In the lead up to the heatwave, ‘gentailers’ Alinta and EnergyAustralia indicated they were confident that the coal generators they operate were well prepared to meet expected demand.
While detailed information about the Victorian outages is still emerging, localized equipment faults, when faced with operating in high temperatures and with surging demand from air conditions, look very likely to be the cause of the blackouts. Despite this, their occurrence exposes the vulnerability the growing renewable sector in Australia faces when blackouts occur.
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We all no what happened with the smart meter roll,
A certain Supply distributor got the cheapest piece of rubbish they could get their hands on,tay couldn’t even swich on a sinple hot water system due to the switching load only being 3 amps instead of 30 amps,so yes if you put a solar system on it cost the customer about $300 for the electrician to put in a contactor and timer, which lockes out the ability for the meter to switch on the hot water as a load when required from the power station .and they still persist on buying the cheap crap as i spoke to a purchaser that has to order transformer and components, he was made redundant for speaking up.