Power Outages, Arrium

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:45): My question is to the Premier. At what time will the power be restored to Arrium's operation in Whyalla?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:45): We are in constant contact with Arrium and, indeed, other large employers. Arrium has a particular issue because of its involvement with the furnace.

Mr van Holst Pellekaan: It's got no electricity.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, that is a very important issue. I have spoken to the administrators. They are managing the issue. We're working with ElectraNet and SA Power Networks to get back as quickly as we possibly can. Of course, we are dealing with a number of issues. There are four lines up to the Mid North. Those lines have been taken out by and large by the weather event. There was one line available; that's been energised, and that is now taking a load up to the Mid North. I understand customers in Port Augusta and Port Pirie are coming back online.

I understand that there was some damage done to some diesel generators in and around Port Augusta near the substations we think maybe through lightning strikes, but we're not quite sure just yet, but we are working with them. The problem we have is that the load on the one line is not enough of course to deal with all the residential customers and our industrial customers. What ElectraNet are doing is bringing in temporary towers.

They are flying them in from across Australia and, of course, the ones we have based here need helicopters in some cases to place those towers in place and put up temporary towers to get those 275 kV lines up and running to get power back to the Mid North. This is a large engineering exercise now, and they are working around the clock. The problem we are facing of course is that the fronts that are coming through now by some estimates are more powerful than the ones yesterday, but of course the load is much smaller.

AEMO still maintain control of the generator system, so we are not expecting another system black, but of course if that one line of our four line spine going up to the Mid North goes down because of this weather event it is going to make it very, very difficult. We are working around the clock with ElectraNet, SAPN and, of course, AEMO to do everything we can to get power back not only to Arrium but to Nyrstar, BHP and our other mines in the Mid North because, in the end, time is money.