Ministerial Statement

Power Outages

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:06): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I can inform the house that as of 12 October ElectraNet had fully restored and energised power to the three circuits damaged by the violent storms and that full load levels are available to all its customers across the state, including industry. With full access to the transmission network restored, ElectraNet expects to erect permanent towers over the coming months, repairing the damage caused by high winds to three of the four main transmission backbones.

South Australia's major industries, including Arrium at Whyalla, Nyrstar at Port Pirie, and BHP Billiton at Olympic Dam, have worked together with the Department of State Development, ElectraNet and SA Power Networks to minimise the impact of the outage. I also bring to the attention of the house the efforts of the management and workers at Whyalla, Port Pirie and Olympic Dam, to quickly stabilise their industrial operations and ensure the safety of their fellow employees. They should be congratulated.

On 5 October, the Australian Energy Market Operator released its preliminary operating incident report into the South Australian power outage. The preliminary report advises that generation in South Australia initially rode through the transmission system faults but, after an extensive number of faults in a short period, 315 megawatts of wind generation disconnected. This significant reduction in electricity supply resulted in increased flow on the Heywood interconnector, which overloaded and disconnected to protect it from damage.

A rapid reduction in the power system frequency from the tripping of the Heywood interconnector resulted in the remaining load and generation being lost, and a statewide electricity outage ensued. Because the Heywood interconnector separated from the South Australian power system to protect equipment, it remained functional and therefore was able to supply electricity to the state to help progressively restart South Australian generators and restore power to the grid. The restoration was undertaken progressively to ensure the stability of the power system was maintained throughout the process.

While the report states that the event was triggered by extreme weather, AEMO will tomorrow update the findings of its initial investigation into the system black event. I met with the Essential Services Commission of South Australia yesterday, which informed me that the organisation is now partnering with the Australian Energy Market Operator to help in these investigations.

The state government recently imposed a new regulation requiring ElectraNet to provide advice to the AEMO to help them manage the rate of change of frequency in the South Australian system. I can also advise the house that, prior to the event on 28 September, the government had already taken steps to ensure that the national electricity framework adequately provided for the reliability and security of the power system as it transitions to a carbon-constrained future.

On 12 July, I submitted a package of four rule changes to the Australian Energy Market Commission which sought to offer flexibility to the Australian Energy Market Operator to manage security as the generation mix changes. The federal Minister for Environment and Energy, the Hon. Josh Frydenberg, convened the Council of Australian Government's Energy Council on 7 October to consider the 28 September event.

I advised my colleagues that renewable energy will be an increasing part of Australia's electricity mix as we transition to a carbon-constrained future, and ensuring that we have the right framework for integrating these renewables into our power system needs to be the priority of the energy council. Energy ministers agreed that the National Energy Market is undergoing significant transition due to technological change as more renewable energy comes on line.

I was pleased that the commonwealth government has taken the first steps to modernising the National Electricity Market by appointing Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel AO. Dr Finkel will develop a national reform blueprint which will outline national policy, legislative reform and rule changes required to maintain the security, reliability and affordability of the National Electricity Market (NEM) as it transitions to a cleaner future. This work will be vital to ensuring that our NEM is brought into the 21^st century and better integrates renewable energy sources into our grid to deliver reliable base load power while meeting Australia's international climate change commitments.

The South Australian government is working with other jurisdictions to nominate two other experts to support the review, and Dr Finkel will present an initial report to the leaders' COAG in December ahead of a further energy ministers' COAG in mid-December. The Council of Australian Governments also agreed to reviews into the system black event from AEMO, the Australian Energy Regulator and the Australian Energy Market Commission. During that meeting, I also reached an agreement with my New South Wales counterpart, the honourable minister Anthony Roberts, to help facilitate a new interconnector between our states, boosting competition and improving stability of the National Electricity Market.

While the circumstances of 28 September are still under investigation, it has been bitterly disappointing to witness politicians at both state and federal levels using the events to push their own ideological agendas. There were numerous ignorant and sometimes quite dangerous statements made during—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The minister will not be requiring the protection of the Chair from this point on.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: There are numerous ignorant—that is a foreign concept for me, sir, protection from the Chair; I've not yet experienced it.

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, that's what I was trying to say. There were numerous ignorant and sometimes quite dangerous statements made during and after the event. During times of difficulty the public expects leadership not politicking.

Mr Marshall: From you! You are a complete joke.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Mr Speaker, thank you for your protection, sir. In closing, we should not overlook the tireless efforts of the many South Australians who worked tirelessly to restore power to the transmission network and to protect homes and businesses from widespread floods and the furious storm. It is during events like these, as we saw during the Sampson Flat and Pinery fires, that the very best of South Australians comes to the fore, working together to meet these challenges.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Ask me a question.