What we'll do to keep the lights on post Hazelwood: grid operator

As the giant Hazelwood coal plant turns off the last of its units, the national electricity grid manager has sought to reassure the public it is taking steps to ensure the lights stay on when demand soars next summer.

After 53 years, the sun sets on Hazelwood.

In an interview with Fairfax Media, the Australian Energy Market Operator [AEMO] said Hazelwood's closure would be offset by the availability of three mothballed gas-fired stations – one each in South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland – and large industrial businesses agreeing to time-shift their electricity use in the event of an emergency.

"The risk is no greater than it was this summer when you look at the generation that's available to us," AEMO chief operating officer Mike Cleary said.

Hazelwood's owners have gradually shut off its eight generation units this week ahead of its closure on Friday.

Read Adam Morton’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “What we'll do to keep the lights on post Hazelwood: grid operator.”

Hazelwood is off the grid! - no longer is it contributing to and worsening Victoria's carbon dioxide emissions.

Good reason to celebrate, and so we should, but remembering that this is not total success rather, it is just a stage, one moment in a struggle to see the fossil fuel energy industry replaced a carbon free process, that is renewable energy!

Hazelwood closure: what it means for electricity prices and blackouts

Victoria’s Hazelwood power station will be shut down this week after nearly 50 years of supplying electricity.

Hazelwood’s closure does not mean
 imminent blackouts for Victoria.

The imminent closure has led to concerns about blackouts, raised most recently by Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, and rising electricity prices.

So what does the evidence suggest?

Last week The Age reported that Victoria is facing “72 days of possible power supply shortfalls over the next two years”. While that sounds bad, it does not mean the state is facing imminent blackouts.

This was based on a report from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), which is in charge of making sure that Australia’s energy markets work.

Read the piece on The Conversation by a researcher at the Australian German Climate and Energy College from the University of Melbourne,  Dylan McConnell - “Hazelwood closure: what it means for electricity prices and blackouts.”

Malcolm Turnbull rejects Tony Abbott's call for subsidy to keep Hazelwood open

Calls for an extraordinary government intervention to keep the ailing Hazelwood coal power plant open have been rejected by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who said its closure would not affect electricity security.

Hazelwood has a capacity of 1600
megawatts, but rarely runs at
full capacity. 

Former prime minister Tony Abbott and the Australian Industry Group have separately suggested the 53-year-old plant - which is due to shut next week and faces hundreds of millions of dollars in WorkSafe orders -  may need to be kept in operation due to concerns over whether there would be enough electricity to meet peak demand during summer.

Read Adam Morton’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Malcolm Turnbull rejects Tony Abbott's call for subsidy to keep Hazelwood open.”

Victoria warned of power shortfall risk after Hazelwood shuts down

Doubts have been cast over
 Victoria's level of energy security. 

Victoria's energy security has been thrown into question, with the state facing an unprecedented 72 days of possible power supply shortfalls over the next two years following the shutdown of the Hazelwood plant next week.

Australia's electricity grid operator has warned that the looming shutdown of the ageing plant, which supplies up to a quarter of the state's power, could lead to breaches of the minimum energy reliability benchmark next summer.

Read Josh Gordon’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - "Victoria warned of power shortfall risk after Hazelwood shuts down.”

(Of course the shift from early energy sources - mostly animal, human, water and wind - to those afforded us by fossil fuels was not without it problems, or complexities, so why should the shift from fossil fuel powered energy to renewable energy be any different? - Robert McLean)

Hazelwood: After 50 years, power shut down will take just three days

Hazelwood power station which will
 be closed later this month. 

After more than 50 years as a mainstay of Victoria's power generation industry, it will take just three days for Hazelwood to shut down.

Three of the Morwell power station's generating units will stop operating on March 27, a further three on March 28, and the final two a day later.

Read Darren Gray’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Hazelwood: After 50 years, power shut down will take just three days.”