Sometimes you see or hear something and you think, “you just can’t make this shit up!” Unless, of course, you work at a commercial radio network, particularly one with an apparent vendetta against renewable energy.
Essential Energy operates the distributed network that covers most of NSW outside of the major population centres in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong.
It has flagged plans to install diesel generators at the town of Crookwell to address a familiar problem – a community beset by power outages because it is situated along a local single power line that is highly vulnerable to failures caused by lightning strikes, falling trees, or any other fault, or even planned maintenance.
It’s a pretty standard option for Essential Energy, and most other electricity networks, and one that has been rolled out in multiple communities, including towns like Broken Hill, which have relied on diesel generators for back-up power for decades.
It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that there are now lots of wind turbines in the area: As the network says itself, diesel back-up would have been necessary whatever the major power source – coal, nuclear, gas, hydro, or even burning a radio presenter’s shock jocks.
That didn’t stop 2GBs Ben Fordham from having a go at wind energy this week. Fordham made a big point about the region having more wind turbines than any other in NSW, with several hundred already installed and more on their way.
“With all of this energy being created in their own backyard, you would think that they wouldn’t have an issue with power supply,” he said.
Fordham said blackouts were a regular occurrence for Crookwell, but one of the most notable came in the State of Origin game in June when the whole town was plunged into darkness and the lights didn’t come back until until 1am the next morning.
“The pubs went silent, and families at home had to stop cooking dinner,” Fordham told his listeners. “Crookwell was in the dark again, and the power didn’t return until 1am. And for Crookwell, blackouts like this are nothing new, even though it has more wind turbines surrounding it than basically any other town in the country.
“You heard it here first. The hum of diesel generators will keep the lights on in Crookwell, even though their skyline is chock a block with wind turbines.”
Fordham did quote the local mayor as saying the problem was about the poles and wires, but then leaped to another false conclusion:
“This just highlights the point that we don’t have the infrastructure right now to support the big rollout of renewables, he said. “If we can’t keep the lights on here without diesel, that’s a warning sign for everyone else.”
We asked Essential Energy for their response and they pointed out that Crookwell is supplied by a single, 66kV power line running approximately 42km north from Goulburn.
Essential says there is no alternative route for the power if the line is damaged. What’s more, the wind turbines in the area are connected directly to the major transmission lines, and not to the local network.
“There was an unplanned power outage on 18 June 2025 in the region due to a high voltage powerline failure,” the company said. “This failure was likely due to damage caused by previous lightning strikes, which led to structural fatigue on the line.
“Regardless of how electricity is generated, severe storms, natural disasters, and other factors can still disrupt the delivery of power to homes and businesses. The power outages in the Crookwell region have been the result of such events.
“Essential Energy is currently looking at ways to improve the resilience and reliability of the electricity network in Crookwell and the surrounding district. As part of this, we are progressing plans to install a standalone, auto-start diesel generator in Crookwell as a backup power supply during planned or unplanned outages.
“This generator would only be used in fault or emergency situations, with the district being supplied via the existing grid for the overwhelming majority of any given year.
“While Crookwell is surrounded by wind turbines, these are connected to the 330 kilovolt (kV) high-voltage transmission network and can’t directly power the local area if there is a fault on the local distribution network.
“The reliability issues in Crookwell are unrelated to the presence of wind generation in the region.
“Longer term solutions being explored include solar-battery hybrid microgrid technology, which we are currently trialling in other parts of the network.
“In the meantime, we are working with the Upper Lachlan Shire Council and local stakeholders to complete the diesel generator installation, with commissioning expected in 15–18 months.”
2GB brands itself as “news you can trust.” But maybe not. Essential Energy says 2GB did not reach out for comment or context. Perhaps they didn’t want to know the answer.
