State-wide loss of power raises serious supply issues – minister

The federal energy minister has defended linking his concerns about the stability of renewable energy with South Australia’s power outage, which was caused by strong winds and lightning damaging supply infrastructure.

Josh Frydenberg acknowledged that wind knocked down more than 20 transmission towers in South Australia while a lightning strike damaged a power station which caused two interconnectors to shut down. But he’s also repeatedly raised the fact that the state gets 40 per cent of its electricity from wind and solar power.

He has noted the last two days that renewable energy was intermittent, which creates issues for the stability of the system.

‘‘Because right now in this country we have a hodgepodge of renewable energy targets that are spread differently across the state, territory and federal governments and that’s not ideal from an economic position,’’ he said.

He argued unrealistically high state targets could raise ‘‘real issues for the stability of the system . . . and the most efficient allocation of resources’’.

Asked whether he’d been disingenuous to link the South Australia storm with the state’s renewables he said ‘‘energy policy and climate change are two sides of the one coin’’.

‘‘There are broader questions about the future of energy security in this country . . . when it comes to the speedy uptake of renewable and whether the system is built sufficiently to take into account the impact of Frydenberg said.

He argued that the Commonwealth was transitioning ‘‘progressively’’ while the states had ‘‘rushed ahead’’ with high or unrealistic renewable energy targets. that change,’’