The " Renewable " Issue !

South Australia is Australia's most advanced state in replacing coal based power generation with "renewables "" such as wind and solar.  Yesterday the most extreme storm in fifty years hit the state and at 3-30 pm the power failed and the entire state was plunged into darkness - and that was expected to persist for twelve hours.

There was chaos in Adelaide.  The trams and trains stopped running and all traffic lights turned to black.  Residents rushed to supermarkets to buy candles, matches and spare batteries.  There was concern for people stuck in lifts and for those with life support equipment in their homes. The SES swung into action.

Theoretically, the Australian power grid is supposed to be self supporting, and in such an emergency South Australia would draw power from Victoria, but the extent of the South Australian demand caused the " Interconnector " to be shut down.   This massive storm toppled many of the high voltage power lines that interconnect the states.

This disaster seems certain to renew the debate on the base load question. South Australia has invested heavily in wind and solar and consequently many older and less efficient coal fired generators have been closed.   When the storm hit, dark clouds negated the input from solar and the wind turbines had to be immediately shut down because very high winds would cause them to destruct.   South Australia draws forty percent of its power from wind turbines.
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The weather bureau uses the term " perfect storm " to describe the fury that nature sent on a visit to South Australia yesterday.  It was unprecedented, but it is exactly what we have been warned will become the new normal if we continue to burn fossil fuel and heat the planet by generating excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The old thinking was to site base load coal based power stations as near as possible to the source of need.   Many were located within cities, but the change to wind power in particular saw massive wind farms dotted about the country with careful selection of where wind was most reliable.  Many ended up offshore - and they do have a liability that they must be shut down if the wind becomes obsessive.

There are also problems with the growing number of householders installing solar panels on their homes.   The power generated is in direct contrast to the amount of sunlight they collect.  If it is a day of intermittent cloud with full sun appearing from time to time the power company is getting rising and falling power volumes which are hard to integrate with the base load supply.   As the solar input surges and then dwindles, it is the base load that needs to adjust to deliver a constant load to homes and industry.

The fact that an entire state suffered a twelve hour blackout will send the boffins back to their drawing boards.   The interconnectivity of a multi state grid is a theoretical answer.  Australia is vast continent of different time zones - and therefore different peak loads.   Wind and solar certainly have their place in power generation, but the cabling that delivers power between state needs a new reliability factor.

Yesterdays South Australian experience could well be a portend to the future !