Tomago Aluminium, one of Australia’s biggest smelters near Newcastle, has notified on Friday, June 8, 2018, that it may have to curtail operations for a third time in a week due to power shortage across the national electricity market. The company said it was asked to halt each of three potlines this week - one on Tuesday and two on Thursday due to the power reserves deficit.
Matt Howell, Tomago’s chief executive told Fairfax Media, how the company was worried about another curtailment of operations later in the day. He said in a separate statement, "Australia is at a crisis point with our energy system."
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has issued a level 2 alert, anticipating a lack of reserve power for later part of the day. The alert system is installed that warns the energy operators in case they have to activate additional power supplies from gas or other sources to prevent blackouts.
AEMO has, however, reissued a lack of Reserve Level 1 alert, which was possible partly due to heavier than expected cloud cover that reduced the output from solar rooftop generation, resulting in increased demand from the grid. The capacity requirement was 1550 megawatts, with available reserve at 771 megawatts.
Mr. Howell refuses to blame AGL, the main power supplier of Tomago, noting that problem is with the overall market.
AGL, on the other hand, has been facing difficulties with its two Hunter Valley coal-fired power stations of late.
AGL spokesman said, “We can confirm a significant number of coal plants are unavailable across the NSW market and there is reduced capacity to meet higher winter demands.”
In relation to this, Mr. Howell commented, NSW’s power supply is at the mercy of the weather now. “When the sun is shining in the middle of the day and the wind is blowing there is generally sufficient capacity," he said in a statement.
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