Extreme weather forecast for summer will reduce the reliability of power supply across Australia in the coming months, with ageing coal plants becoming less reliable, the energy market operator warns.
"In any region, the actual occurrence of load shedding [planned power outage] could be higher than forecast … given particular combinations of weather events, plant outages, or bushfires,'' the report said.AEMO may direct power networks to cut power to customers, which is called load sheddingNetworks may also have to shut down areas if the infrastructure cannot handle the demand from homes and businesses.
"These risks add to the deteriorating reliability of some of the older coal generation plants," AEMO's chief executive officer Audrey Zibelman said. "Whilst unexpected events can and do happen, particularly when the power system is under significant pressure and most prone to failure, AEMO has worked diligently to prepare the power system appropriately, including the procurement of emergency resources."
Improvements to transmission also remain key, with the current network restricting the distribution of some new energy generation. The market operator has also secured secondary backup supplies through short and medium term agreements with business to power down — but they are only paid if they do reduce use.
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