In Winter 2017 after the March 2017 closure of Hazelwood Power Station many old, poor and disabled residents of South Australia and Victoria will freeze next time the LABOR power blackouts happen.

Goodonya LABOR political morons of South Australia and Victoria. Voters should vote Liberal, Conservative or further to the right to restore baseload power after the next State elections. After LABOR is voted out in those States.

A simple explanation for the normal non engineering people to understand
can be expressed this way.
We need a power system that can work at peak times, eg hot wx and strong wind.
So if solar & wind can do that fine do it !
However, sunset at 4-30 pm, and no wind we need a system that can
provide it.
So we need two systems.
The solar wind systems so we are told are cheaper, 66% of coal & gas ?
So we need to spend 2 1/2 times the amount of money to give the country
a reliable power supply.

This of course will turn up on your electricity bill.

Peter King, do you have a link to the Emergency plan for Electricity
Supply Emergency.
I have read the one for liquid fuels and which the States are banned
from having such a plan. I was wondering if the same applied to electricity.

Well If the liberals will bite the bullet and rollout nuclear power, then we need the liberals.

Otherwise we'll be stuck with Mark Butler once again energy minister and his broken record rethoric, nuclear power is not Labor policy.

Why not you may well ask, to which he can be guaranteed to respond, nuclear energy is not labor party policy, full stop! And nearly as smart as the answering machine that also carries the message!

And trotted out to ensure maximised antinuclear forever, green support for an absolute dog's breakfast of an energy policy, only remarkable for just how diabolically dumb it really is!

Am I the only who remembers when we last had affordable power, car manufacturing, profitable aluminum smelting and a steel industry not clinging on by one or two fingernails.

If this is what happens when warring political parties "fix" things, just to stay in power?

Then we need them gone along with the (political masters) green tail that wags the dog!

John Curtin and Ben Chifley must be turning in their graves? A drover's dog couldn't do worse!

We are not two nations at economic war with ourselves, just "one nation" against the rest of the world, and high time our policy paradigms reflected that!

Want more of the same then vote for it! Something else, anything else? Then vote for someone, anyone else! Or, roll over and beg for a tummy rub!
Alan B.

Peter,

You have the function of the AEMO arse about face.

"With its broad national focus for the future, AEMO’s objectives are to promote efficient investment in and operation of Australia’s electricity and gas markets for the long-term interests of consumers – with respect to price, quality, safety, reliability and security of energy supply."

i.e. AEMO operates the network on behalf of the state and provides recommendations with respect to investment to the state to control price, quality, safety, reliability and security of energy supply.

If the State refuses to invest in the network (second interconnector) as advised by the AEMO or implements stupid policies (50% renewables) against the advice of the AEMO, the AEMO can only operate the network with what is available, and the failures fall entirely at the foot of the SA labor government.

The state absolutely has the right to direct the AEMO to bring on additional back up power (far more so than the federal government), as federal labor government had to concede.

Alan B,

I agree that SA is a prime example of where nuclear power is a suitable fit. The problem is primarily SA labor not the federal coalition.

Absolute garbage Peter King.

When & only when AEMO can refuse to take any amount of alternate generated power can they be held responsible for these catastrophes.

While they are operating totally restricted by government regulations, requiring them to take all the wind power available, the only organisation responsible is the government that introduced & maintain those regulations.

Do try to be honest some times.