Energy market operator AEMO says there may be more electricity black-outs next summer

ABC NEWS (Australia)

More electricity black-outs could be on the cards next summer for people in south-eastern Australia. The national energy market operator is warning of an increased risk of supply shortages in New South Wales and Victoria.

Transcript

00:00 Well, these shortages are being attributed to delays in renewable energy projects that

00:06 they were hoping to have up and running by the time New South Wales's largest coal-fired

00:11 power plant was set to retire mid-next year.

00:14 Instead, they say battery projects won't be ready as soon as they had previously hoped.

00:20 Now, the Australian energy market operator has now made changes to its forecast and has

00:25 said that Australians can expect more blackouts next summer as a result of these delays.

00:31 The government says there are plenty of renewable energy projects in the pipeline, but they're

00:35 just facing challenges with building transmission quickly, so that's looking at things like

00:40 supply and technical connection.

00:43 Another factor that's contributing to the forecast shortages in New South Wales is a

00:47 revised assumption of the demands for electricity in the state.

00:51 Now, over in Victoria, they're also at higher risk of blackouts due to mothballed generators

00:57 in South Australia.

00:58 Now, that's a term used to describe the temporary shutdown and storage of generators for later

01:04 use and transmission limitations affecting the flow of electricity to Melbourne.

01:10 South Australia could also face more blackouts due to delays of an energy project there.

01:15 Now, the market operator says they are working on a solution for all of this.

01:19 They're hoping to have a reserve capacity up and running before next summer, but just

01:25 in case this doesn't happen, it would be wise to have a few spare torches and batteries

01:30 handy before next summer.

01:31 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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