The Wire

Again, a catastrophic event has caused load shedding in South Australia.  The extreme heat and a sudden drop in the wind caught the regulator off guard and the S.A. gas fired power station at Pelican Point was not ready to shoulder the load.  With Victoria at capacity, South Australia had nowhere to go.  A few states away, New South Wales quickly learnt the lessons of the heatwave conditions. They dealt with the conditions by turning down some large industrial users for a few hours to handle the peak.  Clearly, our electricity regulators are still on a learning curve when it comes to managing a power grid with very peaky renewables.