Conservatives love a summer blackout. And with two-thirds of peak blackout season already gone, they were not going to miss the opportunity presented by last night’s outages across Victoria to point the finger at renewable energy, the state Labor government’s support of renewables, and most of all last year’s closure of the privately owned Hazelwood coal-fired power plant.
The only slight hitch in this ingenious plan is that none of the above had anything at all to do with it.
On Sunday, the state reached record grid demand for a Sunday in the midst of the heatwave, but around 55,000 Victorians suffered without power at various times on Sunday evening – and many continue to do so on Monday – after faults across the state’s distribution networks.
As explained by the Energy Networks Association, the assorted network companies, and the Australian Energy Market Operator, the blackouts were caused by faults in the *delivery* of the electricity – and not the *supply* or generation of it.
It’s official! Victoria experienced its highest operational demand for a Sunday ever, recording 9,144 MW of demand at 7:30 PM AEDT. At the same time, the system had 1,384 MW in reserve (not including the strategic RERT reserve). It’s still hot – stay safe https://t.co/o4vm5zPodD
— AEMO (@AEMO_Media) January 29, 2018
That is, as absolutely everyone in the state turned their air conditioners up to 11 to cope with temperatures hovering around 40°C – and an overnight low of around 30°C – the state’s “poles and wires” (mostly substation fuses) systems were overwhelmed by demand that peaked at around 9,144MW: “the highest operational demand for a Sunday, ever,” says AEMO.
United Energy tells @3AWNeilMitchell power outages due to local fuses blowing not supply shortages. #springst
— Lauren Hilbert (@laurenhilbert) January 28, 2018
United Energy, Powercor and CitiPower spokeswoman Emma Tyner said “the prolonged high temperatures and humidity through the weekend significantly increased electricity demand at many locations across the network which resulted in multiple power outages,” she said.
“In most cases, substation fuse faults were the main cause of the outages.”
AusNet spokesman Hugo Armstrong said: ”There are a lot fuses blowing in the hot weather and a significant power pull with people having put in air-conditioners they didn’t tell us about.”
So to summarise, the outages had nothing to do with insufficient power being generated, by renewables or otherwise.
The state’s remaining coal plants did not go missing in the heat, as they have done so often before; and the state’s rooftop solar capacity – as illustrated in Dylan McConnell’s chart below – helped to push the day’s peak out to 7.30pm, quite probably ensuring Victorians did not endure an even longer, more painful blackout.
According to AEMO estimates, native peak demand was ~9,440MW.. At the time, rooftop solar was contributing ~330MW. pic.twitter.com/QzTHTUpfmS
— Dylan McConnell (@dylanjmcconnell) January 28, 2018
As AEMO noted, even when power demand reached its record peak on Sunday, there was still plenty of power in the market operator’s reserves – 1,384MW (not including the strategic RERT reserve). They just couldn’t deliver it to everyone, because of the unforeseen distribution faults.
But hey, why let the facts get in the way of a good smear campaign?
While the government and AEMO turned their focus to the electricity companies who appear to have – at great expense to consumers – gold-plated all but certain key parts of their distribution networks, state and federal Coalition members got busy making things up.
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
Look @LilyDAmbrosioMP , here’s that App you told us all to check out. We’re pulling power from everywhere & we’ve still got mass outages. #CantTrustLabor #springst pic.twitter.com/OApJH0CwaS
— Dee Ryall MP (@DeeRyallMP) January 28, 2018
If you are watching the @AustralianOpen and all you see is this, don’t forget Daniel Andrews cut off more than 20% of our electricity supply for ideology and chasing green votes.
Vote @LiberalVictoria in 299 days. We need power security in Victoria.#Springst pic.twitter.com/D8xvCOII8q
— Brad Battin (@BradBattinMP) January 28, 2018
He’s Happy. He went to the tennis last night whilst Victorian’s sweltered without power. Many still without electricity & not a word from @DanielAndrewsMP #HidingAgain #springst pic.twitter.com/H9lsfbuZal
— Craig Ondarchie MP (@CraigOndarchie) January 28, 2018
So nice to be Daniel Andrews relaxing front row at the tennis in air-conditioned comfort while 5000 Victorian families swelter in homes with no TV or air-cons due to power blackout because his energy policy caused Hazelwood to close. #springst pic.twitter.com/W4z44BspX3
— Wendy Lovell MP (@WendyLovellMP) January 28, 2018
Not good enough @LilyDAmbrosioMP to blame everyone else for blackouts. Take some responsibility. #springst pic.twitter.com/WHv4B5k3bg
— David Southwick (@SouthwickMP) January 28, 2018
Even our deputy PM, and chief coal power industry propper-upper, Barbaby Joyce couldn’t resist weighing in. He’s only human, after all.
Andrews says blackout caused by “localised problems”. Yes, localised to where Labor is.
— Barnaby Joyce (@Barnaby_Joyce) January 28, 2018
Thankfully, there are plenty of people on Twitter who know quite a bit about how the national electricity market works, and were able to set the record straight. Here are some of the best Tweets doing just that:
PSA: Propping up Hazelwood (…at a significant cost I might add) would have done precisely zero for the unlucky people without power today.
I can only hope (or perhaps cynical assume) that a potential leader of the state knows this. https://t.co/6j3bd08H4F
— Dylan McConnell (@dylanjmcconnell) January 28, 2018
.@BradBattinMP what did today’s blackouts have to do with hazelwood?
• no shortage of energy — blackouts were distribution issues
• if hazelwood was operational nothing would have been different
• neither andrews nor his policies closed hazelwood.grow up! #springst https://t.co/j71rkBeRNu
— simon holmes à court (@simonahac) January 28, 2018
Well this is a bit awkward. Could we now get back to sensible policy debate, not fear mongering please? @SouthwickMP @BradBattinMP @MatthewGuyMP https://t.co/Ns5PFUi8l9
— Cam_Walker (@Cam_Walker) January 28, 2018
Victorian solar homes provided power at a critical point yesterday, easing pressure on the grid. Worth asking your MP – what are they doing to roll out more of these solutions? #springst Analysis via @dylanjmcconnell pic.twitter.com/z2wSCOKdpn
— Yes 2 Renewables (@Yes2Renewables) January 29, 2018
Be concerned if politicians can’t tell the difference between supply – ie do we have enough power – and distribution – are there local faults that cause blackouts.
Particularly if local blackouts are the problem and they’re being made worse by climate change.#springst https://t.co/VutQB9M4cQ
— Andrew Bray (@andypbray) January 29, 2018
The desperate attempts by Vic Libs to link the melting of electrical substation fuses to the closure of Hazelwood are just sad. 2+2=5, it seems.
— Nicholas Aberle (@NickAberle) January 29, 2018
State energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio also had some things to say on Twitter. First, quite calmly…
Network businesses report cause of power outages down to blown fuses due to capacity issues. New record set for highest demand on a Sunday, smashing previous record in 2014. Nothing to do with insufficient supply of which we had plenty today.
— Lily D’Ambrosio MP (@LilyDAmbrosioMP) January 28, 2018
…and then a bit more pointedly:
Clearly you don’t understand the difference between having enough power generation (which we do) and extreme temps, storms or car crashes impacting network infrastructure (poles and wires) which comes down to physics. https://t.co/tml1PzJOl3
— Lily D’Ambrosio MP (@LilyDAmbrosioMP) January 28, 2018
And finally…
Did you know that 97.2% of outages are in the local distribution network?
The fine folk @AEMO_Media run excellent short courses on how the energy market and system works. The next NEM fundamentals course is Feb 14.
More info at https://t.co/YyLb1MUlcl. https://t.co/zD743Xk065— Craig Memery (@craigmemery) January 28, 2018
