Hsbeen, I do not think that is quite right.
If the state has declared a state of emergency the Emergency
Controller is God.
He is usually the senior police officer involved.
If you refuse an instruction you will be arrested.
I can see it happening not directly related to electricity generation
but if the situation has a risk of life the state of emergency could be declared.

I have just been looking for a Federal Emergency Plan for electricity
but the various plans such as liquid fuels seem to hidden away.
They used to be readily accessible.

Hasbeen,

I am quoting the AEMO directly and without edits...if you think their statement is "garbage" I suggest you take it up with them.
Also you said "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."
Is there any evidence that AEMO have recommended a secondary network connector and more importantly, that the SA government has refused? I doubt it. It is AEMO at the goverment's direction deliberately creating mischief I would suggest.

Bazz you can get the emergency Plan from the AEMO web site...it should be noted also that there is no definition (that I can find anywhere) that covers what constitutes an emergency!

Peter,
I doubt that the AEMO would have the power (sorry pun) to
declare a state of emergency.
That power resides with the minister for emergency services or if
he is not contactable the senior police officer or District
Emergency management officer.
Levels under the minister have never been used as I understand it.
What the AEMO does I expect is declare an emergency situation.
The difference is that the AEMO could not direct any person to take
any reasonable action to assist members of the public. requisition
military assistance, direct fire & SES etc etc.
Also spend lots of money.
When an emergency occurs the emergency order forms appear by magic,
at least that was how it seemed to me.

Peter,

I was quoting the AEMO purpose as on their front page. In simple small words,

The AEMO is responsible for:

1 The operation and maintenance of the network,
2 Giving advice for investment and upgrades of the network,

The AEMO is not:

1 Owned or controlled by the federal government,
2 Responsible for financing the upgrades of the network.

The states are:

1 Responsible for funding investment and upgrades of the network
2 Negotiating year to year the costs and strategies of running, and maintaining the networks including setting the conditions for reliability etc.

Notably the AEMO recommended a second interconnector more than 15 years ago which SA Labor promised and failed to build, which would have prevented most of these black outs.

In short, the responsibility for the network reliability falls completely at the feet of the SA labor government.

sm -"Notably the AEMO recommended a second interconnector more than 15 years ago which SA Labor promised and failed to build, which would have prevented most of these black outs."

It would have been hard for the AEMO to recommend a second conneector 15 years ago since it was only established in 2009.

In 2015 the AEMO produced a report "INTERCONNECTOR CAPABILITIES" in which the only recommendation is as follows;
"2.5.1. Proposed Augmentations
AEMO and ElectraNet have proposed an upgrade to increase the limit on the Heywood AC link from nominal 460 MW to 650 MW in both directions. However, the realised capacity may be lower under certain operating conditions. This project is due to be completed by mid-2016."

Additionally there is a second connector;
Murraylink is a 220 MW DC link between Red Cliffs in Victoria and Monash in South Australia.
It was commissioned in 2002. Runback schemes in South Australia and Victoria were commissioned along with Murraylink, and these handle many of the thermal issues in the Riverland of South Australia and western Victorian 220 kV.

It is also worth noting that the SA government is only peripherally involved in the provision of power as it is a technical issue between AEMO and in the case of SA, TransGrid and Powerlink. The details in the report also show graphically that theer is more than enough capacity on these 2 links to SA to meet the demands up to 2018.

So the SA government have definitely NOT ignored the technical issues; rather hung out to dry by AEMO.

PK,

OK, then it was SA labor that promised in 2002 when it first got into power, on the recommendation of the AEMO's predecessor that a second interconnector to NSW be built. If this second interconnector had been build, it is most probable that none of the black outs in the last year would have occurred.

All the state networks are wholly or partially owned by the states and the federal government has no part in them at all. The states essentially sub contract the AEMO to run their networks on their behalf.

When the coal generator and Pelican point closed down, it was blindingly obvious that the network, which had little to no improvements in nearly 2 decades was hopelessly inadequate.