Vic heatwave power fears
Summer electricity outage could hit 500,000
HALF a million Victorians could be left without power in a summer heatwave if the La Nina weather system brings rain that floods the Yallourn coal-fired power station.
A state of emergency was declared earlier this year when the Latrobe Valley site was damaged in freak storms. Significant cracks emerged in the mine wall and prompted urgent repair work.
The Australian Energy Market Operator’s summer readiness plan, to be released on Friday, reveals authorities are still preparing for the possibility Yallourn could again be at risk of flooding.
The report presents a scenario in which the generator is knocked offline for 18 months.
If that were to occur, and Victoria was hit by a one-in-10year summer heatwave, the market operator warned of a risk that between 150,000 and 500,000 customers would be without power for eight hours.
The market operator expects maximum temperatures to exceed the long-term median in most of Victoria this summer.
But La Nina conditions mean the forecast for power supply across the nation’s east coast appears secure.
“Similar to last summer, we’re expecting less intense heatwave and bushfire conditions. However, these risks remain, along with likely tropical cyclones and flooding due to anticipated La Nina weather patterns,” chief operations officer Michael Gatt said.
“An additional 2.6 gigawatts of small-scale solar generation and 2 gigawatts of new gridscale generation capacity have strengthened the reliability outlook, offsetting a number of generation units unavailable this summer.”
He said the market operator had also received expressions of interest for more than 2000 megawatts of emergency power reserves.