The prospect of a second Basslink cable between Tasmania and the mainland continues to gather support after Tasmania’s recent energy crisis (and another Basslink outage yesterday).
On Tuesday, the Clean Energy Council applauded the Federal Government’s commitment to a second undersea Basslink cable, saying it was an important step in Australia’s transition towards a 21st century energy system
“Tasmania has been almost entirely powered by hydroelectricity for more than a century, and a second Basslink would allow more renewable energy to be exported to the mainland and improve Tasmania’s energy security at the same time,” said Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Kane Thornton.
“It’s great to see bipartisan support for stronger interconnection to unlock renewable energy in Tasmania, with the Leader of the Opposition also recently committing to support this proposal, should it prove to be feasible.”
However, Mr. Thornton also stressed that while improved interconnection was important, it was just step towards transitioning the nation’s energy system.
“The Clean Energy Council’s ‘Power Shift’ blueprint sets out the policy and regulatory measures necessary for this transition,” he said.
Power Shift is a 5-point plan that can unlock the significant benefits for renewables and energy storage for all Australians.
It’s estimated that the total cost of Tasmania’s recent energy crisis caused by the 6-month interconnector outage was up to $180 million. The situation was exacerbated by rapidly falling dam levels due to lack of rainfall, curtailing power generation.
During the crisis, the 100+ diesel generators used to make up the shortfall in electricity generation cost $44 million to lease and $11 million per 100 megawatt hours of generation per month.
On Tuesday, a preliminary report into the feasibility of a second Tasmanian interconnector was released and gave the thumbs up for the project.
As somewhat of an unfortunate coincidence, but also underlining the importance of the second interconnector, Basslink went out of action again yesterday. Unlike in the last situation however, the issue appears to involve equipment on dry land at the Loy Yang converter station in Victoria.
According to an ABC report, the interconnector will be out of action until 6pm today – 36 hours after the outage began.
