Guess what? When I went looking for discussions re the causes of the power shortages in Australia in the face of this heatwave, I found the following. I found NO ONE suggesting that the shortfall was due to alternative technology energy supplies.
Reserve generation levels were particularly thin in New South Wales early Thursday, after the
sudden failure of a unit at AGL Energy's aging Liddell coal plant, the
Australian Financial Review reported this week.
Even though air conditioning use has soared in the face of record temperatures, which topped 115º F this week in Adelaide,
the only blackouts so far this Australian summer have been down to prosaic causes such as cable failures.
Meanwhile,
a major blackout threat that has emerged in Adelaide is fruit bats crashing into power lines (bats have also been
dropping from the trees due to this week's heat, but that doesn't seem to be affecting the electric grid). Overall, said Victoria-based energy consultant Jill Cainey: “The Australian energy system is coping with all this heat, but perhaps creaking a bit at the seams.”
*
Aging coal-fired plants struggle in extreme heat
MELBOURNE, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Blistering heat triggered power outages on Australia's strained grid on Friday as demand for air-conditioning soared and
coal-fired generators struggled to meet the surge in consumption.
AGL Energy's Loy Yang power plant and EnergyAustralia's Yallourn, both in Victoria, were among those with units down
Victoria Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio said it was clear Australia's summers were getting longer, hotter and more extreme because of climate change. "We can see that the problem we've got now is that we've got a 20th century system for a 21st century climate," she told reporters at a televised briefing.
In South Australia, where power capacity has been beefed up with diesel generators and gas-fired plants over the past two years following a state-wide blackout, 30,000 homes lost power on Thursday after transformers on local power lines overheated and switched off.
