House of Assembly: Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Contents

Electricity Generation

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:48): My question is to the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy. What amount of generation was required to prevent the tripping of the Heywood interconnector and subsequent statewide blackout?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:48): From memory, from the report, I understand we lost over 500 megawatts from wind farms and we lost another 800 megawatts from the interconnector, so that's 1,300 megawatts. I will get—

Mr Marshall: Don't add them together.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Don't add them together. There is a fundamental problem—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned for the second and the final time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: There is a fundamental problem with what the Leader of the Opposition is saying. If you look at the report, AEMO itself says that it is hard to say what would have occurred in the system—what other trips would have occurred—had that wind farm software been in place to allow them to ride through completely.

Mr van Holst Pellekaan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Stuart is warned.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It's in the report in black and white, but perhaps the person writing the questions for the Leader of the Opposition might want to remind him of what the report says so that he doesn't embarrass himself in question time again.