Australian Energy Minister Chris Bowen has said that the country’s energy grid can be sheltered from further blackouts and load shedding as New South Wales and Queensland just experienced brief shortfalls in electricity supply.
Although the energy shortages were lifted overnight, Bowen said the upcoming months would be a challenging period.
Power availability in the two Australian states was at risk on June 13 after wholesale electricity prices shot up, forcing authorities to impose a $300/MWh (US$208/MWh) price cap.
This resulted in some power suppliers halting their operations, which caused the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) to step in and require energy companies to continue to supply electricity even if it was not profitable.
Speaking of the incident, the energy minister said the AEMO was closely monitoring the conditions of the electricity supply reserve.
“We will be in for a bumpy period. There is no doubt about that,” he told the Seven Network.
“We are working very hard to avoid any blackouts and load shedding, and we have done that so far.”
Currently, coal-fired power plant outages and rising demand for household heating due to cold weather are exerting pressure on the electricity grid.
However, Bowen noted that Australians did not have to endure the winter without using their heating appliances.
“Nobody is being asked to turn off anything that they need … certainly nobody should be turning the heating off or anything that’s essential,” he told ABC radio.
Bowen also said that while some coal-fired power stations were still out of service, AEMO could intervene to ensure power availability when necessary.
“Coal-fired power is really under huge pressure at the moment … and that has led to some of the pressure on the system,” he said.
The government was aware that a number of the outages were coming, but some at ageing power plants were unforeseeable, Bowen added.
In addition, the energy minister said while the government would consider everything about reforming the sector, it was not easy to find a solution.
“This is not a short-term fix. There’s no legislative basis at the moment. We would need to look very carefully,” he said.
“While this is a very serious situation, we’ll deal with it calmly and methodically.”
Meanwhile, Queensland authorities have asked the state residents to turn down their heaters as electricity supplies are expected to fall short for a second night.
Households and businesses in the state’s southeast and coastal areas would encounter blackouts from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on June 14.
As the situation arises, the AEMO has asked generators to supply more power.
This would be the second consecutive night that the government agency steps in to maintain the electricity supply.
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Alfred Bui is an Australian reporter based in Melbourne and focuses on local and business news. He is a former small business owner and has two master’s degrees in business and business law. Contact him at alfred.bui@epochtimes.com.au.
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Australian Energy Minister Gives Assurance as Electricity Blackouts Occur - The Epoch Times
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