Power Crisis Hits Victoria as Coal Plant Offline, Wholesale Prices Soar

Victoria‘s electricity system faced a severe crisis as a major coal-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley, Loy Yang A operated by AGL, went offline, leading to significant power outages and soaring wholesale prices. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) reported the incident, highlighting the tripping of multiple generation and transmission lines in the region.

Josh Stabler, managing director at Energy Edge, described the situation as a ‘multi-contingency market event’ with transmission lines tripping between Moorabool and Sydenham. This led to the loss of over 1000 megawatts of customer load and 2300 megawatts of generation capacity. Additionally, with Loy Yang A offline, the electricity crisis escalated.

Wholesale power prices in Victoria surged to an unprecedented $16,600 per megawatt-hour, significantly higher than the usual levels, as the grid struggled to cope with the soaring summer temperatures, nearing 40 degrees in western Victoria. As the crisis unfolded, the grid faced challenges with transmission access to the market and maintaining system security as more generation units went offline.

Amidst the chaos, Citipower and Powercor, major electricity providers in Melbourne and western Victoria, faced significant challenges with over 107,000 customers left without power due to severe storms and lightning strikes causing widespread damage to electrical infrastructure. Emma Tyner, a spokesperson for the companies, indicated that restoration efforts would take several days due to the extensive faults across the network.