Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio says coal fired energy is failing Victorians, following state blackouts leading up to the Australia Day weekend.
An extreme heat event meant extra pressure on the Victorian grid with up to 200,000 Victorians experiencing short power cuts as the grid failed to meet demand.
The emergency blackout followed the failure of two coal-fired power stations. EnergyAustralia’s Yallourn power station and AGL’s Loy Yang A station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley were both operating at less than their usual output.
Coal-fired energy slated by clean energy advocates
D’Ambrosio says the series of outages last Thursday and Friday are due to ageing coal and gas infrastructure.
Victoria lost an “extraordinary” 1,800 MW of power capacity due to the power station outages, she says.
The Australian Industry Group claims the Victorian blackouts are a sign of “national energy failure”.
Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy Mark Butler has also weighed in, saying faults at ageing coal fired power plants are leading to more power blackouts during extreme heatwaves.
Alcoa’s Portland aluminium smelter reduced operations to ease pressure on the grid. This helped fend off further blackouts.
The future is renewable energy: D’Ambrosio
According to D’Ambrosio, renewable energy will help Australia cope with the longer, hotter summers and extreme weather climate change brings.
“We have a 20th century energy system for a 21st century climate,” she claims.
Australia Institute data shows renewable energy is displacing black coal-fired energy in Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) for the first time. Renewable grid generation grew by a third from December 2017 to December 2018 – the largest ever growth of renewables in the NEM.
Solar power withstands heat better than coal
According to the Australia Institute, solar installations prevent outages and load-shedding during heatwaves far more effectively than coal-fired plants.
This is because gas and coal-fired power plants overheat as temperatures soar. They rely on cooling systems to function efficiently, which is problematic during heatwaves.
As a result they trip, and stop feeding power to the grid.
The Australia Institute suggests that solar thermal with battery storage could support the grid during peak times.
