The national energy market operator is having to direct electricity generators in Queensland to switch on plants to avoid blackouts, after the introduction of controlled prices in the state left some generators unprofitable.
“As a consequence of the administered price cap in Queensland, AEMO has seen generation bids reduce and has issued Lack of Reserve notices in both Queensland and New South Wales, signalling a reduction in pre-determined electricity reserve levels,” AEMO said in a statement on Monday.
“To maintain power system security and reliability, AEMO has directed some generators to continue meeting consumers’ demand to improve reserve conditions. At this time, there is no impact to consumer supply.”AEMO said it would “take available actions” to deliver extra supply or reduce demand to try to keep electricity supplies secure.
The crisis has been driven by multiple outages of coal power units along the east coast combined with very high gas prices Several coal-fired power stations are out of action due to technical faults, coal supply problems and other issues, withof outages at its Bayswater generator in NSW’s Hunter Valley and a delay in repairs needed at its Loy Yang A generator in Victoria. Electricity demand in Queensland hit a record on Thursday amid cold temperatures.
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