)
News
Australia must urgently invest in the electricity transmission grid to ensure the lights stay on during the nation’s transition to renewable power, the federal government says.
)
News
Australia’s energy regulator says it expects there to be enough electricity supply to satisfy national demand over the weekend, after days of crisis in which it suspended the market for the first time.
Get InDaily in your inbox. Daily. The best local news sent straight to your inbox every workday at lunchtime.
Thanks for signing up to the InDaily newsletter.
The Malinauskas Government says the state has enough electricity to meet demand amid ongoing warnings of lack of supply, but “market failure” could invoke powers legislated after the 2016 blackout to stop local generators sending power interstate.
South Australia avoided major power outages overnight but the Australian Energy Market Operator – which yesterday took the unprecedented step of suspending the electricity market to guard against catastrophic power failures – is still warning of a lack of reserve over the coming days.
The Australian energy operator says South Australia faces potential rolling power cuts on Friday as there is no reserve left in the national electricity grid, with Premier Peter Malinauskas saying policymakers should be “deeply ashamed” of the crisis.
South Australia is expected to have the lowest average wholesale electricity prices in the country by early next year but an Adelaide energy expert says the savings are unlikely to be passed on to consumers in full.
South Australia’s record-breaking temperatures have reignited the political battle over the state’s electricity grid, after the diesel generators purchased by the previous Labor Government were brought online by the market operator to meet high demand.
