Jay Weatherill's big energy call is a survivalist fix of last resort

 You really can’t accuse Weatherill of impatience, or
 going off half-cocked. Tuesday’s landing point
has been more than 10 years in the making. 

If you happen to be looking on at events in South Australia on Tuesday with confusion, let’s keep it simple.

Think of South Australia as an energy survivalist, battening down the hatches and hoarding the canned goods, and perhaps it will start to make more sense.

On Tuesday, the SA premier, Jay Weatherill, committed to sourcing $550m worth of canned goods. A new gas-fired power plant. A massive new battery farm. A “fix” to boost gas supply. New ministerial powers to direct generators and the energy market operator.

A whole lot of canned goods, right there.

Before we conclude something has gone horribly awry in challenging times, let’s be very clear. The SA government has been left with little choice.

Over the past six months or so, the state grid has been exposed as unreliable.

Reading the likely trends, the SA government has made the decision the state can’t be in the position of relying on Victoria for power in emergencies, because Victoria is going to encounter its own reliability problems once the Hazelwood coal-fired plant shuts down.

Read Katherine Murphy’s story on The Guardian - “Jay Weatherill's big energy call is a survivalist fix of last resort.”