<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/15/renewables-predicted-to-avert-risk-of-blackouts-as-scorching-summer-looms-for-australia>
"Heatwaves should lift electricity demand to decade-highs this summer, but
regulators are confident extra renewable generation capacity will reduce the
risk of blackouts.
The summer readiness report by the Australian Energy Market Operator, released
on Wednesday, estimated the grid serving eastern states will have 1,500
megawatts more scheduled generation capacity available than a year ago, even
with the closure in April of the remaining units of the Liddell coal-fired
power station in New South Wales.
New wind and solar farms will also provide about 2000MW more generation
capacity than was available during the 2022-23 summer.
“This year’s summer forecast is for hot and dry El Niño conditions, increasing
the risk of bushfires and extreme heat, which could see electricity demand
reach a 1-in-10-year high across the eastern states and in Western Australia,”
Aemo’s executive general manager for operations, Michael Gatt, said.
“The increase in generation availability and additional reserves being procured
will help navigate reliability pressures, should they eventuate,” Gatt said.
Climate systems to Australia’s west and east have been setting the country up
for a hotter and drier-than-average summer. The August-October period was
already the driest three-month period in records going back to 1900, the Bureau
of Meteorology said last week.
El Niño weather patterns typically don’t start to reduce rainfall and
contribute to hotter temperatures in eastern Australia until late spring. The
bureau is predicting warmer-than-average summer daytime temperatures for almost
the entire continent, elevating bushfire risks after three relatively wet and
mild summers.
Households, too, have been adding to generation capacity. For the first nine
months of 2023, they added about 2256MW of new rooftop solar power according to
Green Energy Markets. At that pace, they will add about 750MW more by the
year’s end."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
