AEMO is fine tuning their story with another edition out.
– at least this edition has a better map. Any idea of the blackout being caused by wind blowing over transmission towers seems to be vanishing. Now the blackout seems due to wind generators cutting out after being subjected to a specified number of faults. Alan Moran says – South Australian blackout: it was, in fact, caused by the windfarms – he also raises issue that consumers who have suffered losses could claim compo.
Followup stories on the ABC –
SA Treasurer vainly beating his drum that wind power is never to blame.
Chris Uhlmann reviews the AEMO update
We now have 5min data which shows that wind on the 28th was lower than the peak on the 26th despite wind being stronger on 28th.
Here is a table over 3 hours – When you compare demand against – import + gas + wind it looks as though they lacked reserve. But there is also rooftop solar to factor in.
The AEMO is still prevaricating, although it’s becoming harder for them. No surprise there, but something a little useful is emerging: for over 20 years the MSM valiantly resisted publishing any detail at all about power demand and supply, including actual numbers in mega or giga watts – too boring, too complicated.
Now the ABC in its’ sweaty panic is being forced to examine these issues in the hope there is a way to avoid the hammer. Most of our MSM are scientifically/engineeringly illiterate and mathematically innumerate. Oh, the pain, Iago, the pain …
In the future if there are lots and lots of these things, wind will still choose the path of least resistance. So when it is hard to blow through the turbines it will divert through the transmission towers and solar farms instead.
There seems to ba a move amongst those affected by the blackout to sue the Wind-Turbine operators. If this was successful, it might bring a new level of appreciation of risk for these operators, as well as drain off some of their ill-gotten profits. Sadly there is probably a clause in their contracts which makes it impossible to sue them.
Talking about lawyers – Earlier in the year in posts on the Basslink outage I opined that the Tas Govt and Basslink might end up legal adversaries over the whole mess. I noticed last week news from Tassie saying the owners are seeking some insurance funds to meet operating costs. Also that Hydro has not been paying Basslink fees to use the cable since September. That reads like a stoush to me.
Tasmanian energy crisis: Basslink could unplug cable, warns Opposition Leader Bryan Green 20 Oct 2016
www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-20/basslink-cable-could-be-switched-off-warns-bryan-green/7948200?section=tas
Basslink may well come up for sale.