State powers ahead again
Electricity exports back in the black
TASMANIA has returned to being a net electricity exporter, two years after an energy crisis saw diesel generators shipped in to keep the lights on.
Last financial year the state’s hydro dams had enough water, the uptake of solar power increased and the state was able to meet a higher demand for power through its own resources for the first time since 2013-2014, a new report shows.
The Tasmanian Economic Regulator’s annual performance report for last financial year shows the amount of power produced across the network was 10 per cent higher than in the previous two years and demand for electricity was up.
But the state was able to meet that demand from its own sources — a far cry from 2016 when Tasmania was in the grip of an energy crisis.
In that year, dam levels fell to 12.8 per cent capacity due to record low rainfall and an extended outage of the Basslink power cable prevented power imports for months.
Diesel generators were shipped in to help meet the state’s electricity needs and the Tamar Valley Power Station was hastily recommissioned.
The regulator’s latest report shows more than 2000 Tasmanian households connected new solar systems last financial year, bringing the total number with solar PV systems to almost 30,000.
Tasmanian Economic regulator Joe Dimasi said all of the state’s major power generation sources increased output in 2017-18 and demand for that electricity increased by almost 4 per cent.
“However, Tasmania was able to meet the increased demand while still being a net exporter of electricity via Basslink for the first time since 2013-14,” he said.
“In addition, Hydro Tasmania’s water storages remained at around 40 per cent capacity for much of the year.”
He also reported there were relatively few outages with the duration and frequency similar to previous years.
“Although the number of communities performing poorly against particular reliability measures increased due to the number and extent of weather-related outages.”