The massive transition going on in our energy systems occupies a lot of minds in the electricity sector. But consumers – both business and households - also have a deep interest in maintaining reliable, affordable energy services. Every business depends on access to energy, as we saw in the SA blackout last month. Meanwhile the...

One of Australia's biggest power distribution networks, Ausgrid, has been sold after a contentious process that revived debates about foreign ownership. Australian companies IFM Investors and AustralianSuper are the new owners of 50% of the power network. Chief executive of IFM Investors, Brett Himbury, says the IFM/AustralianSuper bid is a fantastic outcome for superannuants and...

In this updated report, it is now known that five system faults occurred within a period of 88 seconds on 28 September 2016, leading to six voltage disturbances. Data now shows that nine of the 13 wind farms online at the time of the event did not ride through the six voltage disturbances, resulting in...

This preliminary report explains how severe weather moved through South Australia on the afternoon of Wednesday 28 September 2016, with high winds, thunderstorms, lightning strikes, hail, and heavy rainfall. The weather resulted in multiple transmission system faults including, in the space of 12 seconds, the loss of three major 275 kV transmission lines north of...

While the federal government says South Australia's reliance on renewable energy threatens the stability of its power supply, energy experts say the state's power outage was most likely caused by a transmission fault due to storm damage. One thing both sides seem to agree on is the need for a coordinated national renewable energy policy...