AGL Energy’s Loy Yang power station suffers outageHundreds of thousands of Victorian homes have lost power and large industrial users have been ordered to shut down after the state’s largest electricity power station suffered an outage, forcing the country’s energy market operator to execute emergency measures to safeguard the stability of the grid.
AGL Energy’s Loy Yang A coal plant went offline shortly after 2pm AEDT, with the exact cause still unknown. A transmission line which carries the electricity produced is also down, but authorities remain unable to determine what cause the outages first.
The Australian Energy Market Operator said it was investigating the cause of the event, which tripped the Moorabool to Sydenham 500 kilovolt transmission lines and led to multiple generators disconnected from the grid.
The outage caused wholesale electricity prices to immediately soar, and Josh Stabler - managing director at Energy Edge said supplies will need to be immediately restored or Victoria’s faces unreliable electricity supplies during the peak evening period.
More than 380,000 Victorian homes have had their power switched off, as AEMO issues a load shedding notice.
Shortly before 4:30pm, Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio tweeted that she had just met with AEMO CEO Daniel Westerman “about the current unprecedented impact of extreme weather on our power grid”.
“There are currently outages affecting around 300,000 customers across the state. This is due to the physical collapse of some transmission lines caused by the severe weather,” Ms D’Ambrosio tweeted.
The real number of outages had surged to more than 500,000 by 4:30pm, as a result of AEMO ordering load shedding.
“This (is) a very dynamic situation, so I will provide updates as the situation evolves and timelines for restoration of power become clear. AEMO and the operators of the transmission lines and generators are working closely with us,” Ms D’Ambrosio tweeted.
As of 4:30pm AEDT, wholesaler United had 174,000 customers offline, Ausnet 165,000, Citipower 107,000 and Jemena 54,000.
“The transmission network and the coal power stations will take time to return to service, which puts the evening peak under threat,” Mr Stabler said.
In a bid to safeguard grid stability, the Australian Energy Market Operator exercised emergency powers that sees it exercise agreements with large users to curtail their usage, but the country’s market operator has warned it has insufficient reserves.
Victorian opposition energy spokesman David Davis says the outage highlights Victoria’s vulnerability, following “Labor’s failure after nine years in power to plan the renewable transition properly.”
“The full cause and extent of the incident on 13 February are as yet not fully explained. A key task in coming days will be to explain the sequence and exact cause of Tuesday 13 February Victorian incident,” Mr Davis said.
“Victoria is delicately poised with a major source of power at Loy Yang A offline, in need of major repair.
“There have been serious blackouts leaving homes and businesses exposed. Widespread load shedding has occurred, with industries forced to shut down.”
Mr Davis said Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio had been warned about the vulnerability of the grid in AEMO’s August 2023 Electricity Statement of Opportunities.
“Lily D’Ambrosio appears not to have taken the necessary actions to protect Victoria’s electricity supply,” he said.
“Lily D’Ambrosio needs to come clean on the widespread load shedding, explaining which industries were forced to shut, for how long and how much they were paid.
“The price of power maxed out at $16,600 per megawatt hour and Loy Yang A generation fell to zero.
“A key responsibility of the Victorian government is to ensure a reliable, secure and affordable power supply is available. They failed this test on Tuesday.”
Offering some hope, Victoria is experiencing cool, wet conditions as hot weather of recent days abates - and officials hope this could lead to lower demand for electricity.
Even if blackouts are avoided, the outage will cause financial pain. Wholesale prices hit a cap of $16,600/MWh, which will take a toll on retailers immediately before eventually flowing through to households when the next price tariffs are implemented on July 1.
Prolonged high wholesale prices will cause higher bills, which authorities are desperate to avoid after two years of price increases of more than 20 per cent.
Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chief Executive Paul Guerra said the biggest risk for Victorian businesses and consumers was the reliability, security and affordability of energy.
“This outage merely highlights how fragile our system is. Support for net zero will start to weaken if we get events like this regularly,” Mr Guerra said.
“This afternoon we have had four units shut down at Loy Yang. It means that industry has already had its power reduced. People at home have their power compromised. Business will be paying the price as well in terms of power outages or reductions.
“Prolonged outages will mean higher energy prices – that is a fact. We cannot let energy security be the casualty of this as we transition to net zero.
“This highlights the challenges of transition to net zero.”
