Australia’s key power market suspended spot trading as it attempts to ease an electricity crunch that has been worsened by some plants withholding supply after the introduction of price caps.
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) said it was taking the action after some generators failed to respond to requests to fire up shuttered units and help add more supply to the national grid.
Outages at coal-fired power plants, reduced renewable generation and a cold-weather snap have put Australia’s electricity network under major strain, triggering warnings over potential disruptions and prompting regulators to impose limits on prices.
“We have been able so far to avoid any significant load shedding events,” Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen told reporters in Gladstone, Queensland, yesterday. “That will likely continue to be the case.”
AEMO operates Australia’s National Electricity Market, which connects six of the country’s eight states and territories — New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania — and delivers about 80 percent of all power consumed in the country.
“In the current situation, suspending the market is the best way to ensure a reliable supply of electricity for Australian homes and businesses,” AEMO CEO Daniel Westerman said in a statement yesterday. “The situation in recent days has posed challenges to the entire energy industry.”
The operator had been forced to compel plants to deliver 5 gigawatts of generation through direct intervention in the market on Tuesday, the statement said.
AEMO is to review daily the halt to spot markets, and apply a previously agreed suspension pricing schedule to cover each of its regions, it said.
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