Australia's national electricity market has been fully suspended for the first time since its inception in 1998. Here's why:
For the first time ever, Australia's national electricity market has been suspended, with the market operator saying itThe Australian Energy Market Operator said in a note issued on Wednesday it had suspended the electricity spot market in NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria, until further notice.
"This is the fault of the government, on both sides, for refusing to implement a domestic reservation policy," energy law professor at Deakin University, Samantha Hepburn, told SBS News. "There is no shortage of supply, it's just that we are missing about two or three gigawatts of coal power capacity, which is normally available to us.When there is a supply issue like this, the market relies on generators to put energy back into the market to meet demand.
"But we have generators that produce at $400, so they need to be paid $400 to produce. If you give them $300, they prefer not to." "There is also going to have to be, in my opinion, robust implementation of emergency rules regarding reservation and supply."Mr Westerman said AEMO's suspension of the market is temporary and will be reviewed daily.Should you be concerned?