Blackouts less likely this summer, report finds

The development of large-scale renewable energy products and uptake of rooftop solar has lowered the risk of power outages this summer, according to a new report from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

“Australia’s power supply is reliable now that it is being supported by new renewable energy sources,” said the Climate Council’s Senior Researcher, Tim Baxter.

AEMO’s 10-year reliability forecast found an additional 4300 MW of new renewable energy capacity will be operational this summer compared to last summer.

“That’s enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes. Australia is the sunniest and one of the windiest countries in the world, which means we can have clean, reliable and affordable power,” Baxter said.

“AEMO has made it clear that Australia does not need any new gas developments. Gas is a bad investment that will increase our greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate dangerous climate change.

“This report shows that renewables, backed by storage and good management, are more than capable of providing power to Australians.

“States and territories must accelerate their plans to replace their ageing and increasingly unreliable coal power stations with renewable energy,” he said.

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