Coal unit failure a threat to Victorian energy security this summer

The head of Australia’s energy market operator said threats to the reliability of the electricity grid in Victoria were its main concern following AGL’s announcement that one of four generating units at the Loy Yang A power station will be out of action for seven months.

AGL says one generating unit at Loy Yang A
 will be out for repairs until December.

Failures and planned outages at multiple coal and gas-fired units in the Latrobe Valley played havoc with Victoria’s energy grid last summer, forcing the energy market operator to cut the power to hundreds of thousands of customers during two days of extreme heat in late January.AEMO chief executive Audrey Zibelman said the operator was working with AGL and the rest of the industry on plans to cover the loss of generating power at Loy Yang A, which provides about 30 per cent of Victoria’s electricity capacity.

Read the story from The Age by Adam Carey - “Coal unit failure a threat to Victorian energy security this summer.”

‘Unprecedented': Energy operator in daily fight to keep lights on

The energy market operator is being forced to intervene daily in the electricity grid as an influx of renewable energy and ageing coal-fired power stations make the system unstable.

The electricity grid is seeing more intervention as the system
 struggles to cope with rapid change to more renewable energy.

The Australian Energy Market Commission’s (AEMC) latest grid performance report found the “unprecedented change” caused by an increasing level of wind and solar power has forced the power system to change faster than expected and that it was failing to keep up.

The AEMC said the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has had to step in more frequently to keep the grid stable.

Read the story from The Age by Cole Latimer - “‘Unprecedented': Energy operator in daily fight to keep lights on.”

CSIRO/AEMO study says wind, solar and storage clearly cheaper than coal

Australia’s leading scientific research group and the country’s energy market operator have released a benchmark study that shows the cost of new wind and solar – even with hours of storage – is “unequivocally” lower than the cost of new coal generation.

The joint study – GenCost 2018 – by the CSIRO and AEMO shows that the levellised cost of energy (LCOE) of solar and wind is well below that of any other generation source.

Even adding two and six hours of storage with batteries or pumped hydro still leaves the cost of “firm” solar and wind power cheaper than any fossil fuel alternative.

Read the story from RenewEconomy by Giles Parkinson - “CSIRO/AEMO study says wind, solar and storage clearly cheaper than coal.”