Heatwave pushes energy demand to the limit  

While no substantial power outages have been reported during this week’s heatwave, the grid is being pushed to its limit. As facilities reach their maximum thresholds during extreme conditions they risk critical failure resulting in “load shedding” (i.e. blackouts). A report in The Age suggests that increasing the security and reliability of the grid would be dependent on consumers willingness to shoulder the financial burden.

Joe Adamo from the Australian Energy Market Operator spokesman told The Age that while Melbourne’s electricity grid had met the demands made of it during this week’s oppressive temperatures, the margin between capability and demand had been “tight” in Victoria and that, ”People have to be mindful and realistic of the extreme weather that we face here. It is quite intense what we are dealing with. I don’t think many types of assets would withstand that through three, four, five days in a row.”

Demand on Thursday reached a peak load of 10,300 megawatts, but Adamo said that if the network infrastructure ran at full capacity there was a chance the state would break the record of 10,494 megawatts set in 2009. Although 1,000 megawatts of reserve power will be available should it be required, limited blackouts could still occur due to bushfires, lightning strikes and other network hazards.

Monash University economics professor Stephen King explains that despite requiring massive energy loads during heatwaves, a moderate approach to network requirements is beneficial. ”In general you don’t want a system that will deal with very, very extreme events perfectly,” he said. ”You have got to pay for this, this is expensive infrastructure.”

Network infrastructure costs make up between 40%-50% of electricity bills, and with energy costs increasing 70% since 2007 it’s clear to see that steps such as increasing large-scale solar power infiltration and helping ease the burden on peak load days will benefit us all.