{"id":349369,"date":"2024-10-29T07:25:20","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T06:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=349369"},"modified":"2024-10-29T07:25:22","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T06:25:22","slug":"650m-in-renewable-energy-didnt-save-broken-hill-from-days-of-blackouts-after-a-storm-islanded-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=349369","title":{"rendered":"$650m in renewable energy didn\u2019t save Broken Hill from days of blackouts after a storm islanded it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From JoNova<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jo Nova<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Broken Hill Solar Plant\u00a0| Photo by Jeremy Buckingham<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The lights went out in Broken Hill. A storm blew seven transmission towers over disconnecting the area from the national grid on October 17th. About 19,000 people live there, and with a 200MW wind plant, a 53MW solar array and a big battery, plus diesel generators it was assumed they\u2019d be OK for a while without the connection to the big baseload plants, but instead it\u2019s been a debacle. They\u2019ve had nearly a week of blackouts with intermittent bursts of power, barely long enough to charge the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fridges in the pharmacies failed, so all medications had to be destroyed and emergency replacements sent in. Schools have been closed. Freezers of meat are long gone\u2026  Emergency trucks are bringing in food finally <\/a>and hopefully the schools will reopen today. But the full reconnection will not happen until November 6th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Western NSW blackout \u2018a green power warning\u2019<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By Joanna Panagopououlos and Alexi Demetriadi, The Australian<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Tom Kennedy said state and federal governments \u201cneeded to learn\u201d from the experience, and how wind and solar energy are \u201calmost useless\u201d in a crisis without baseload power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(Wind and solar) are worse than useless (in a crisis like this), because it\u2019s detrimental to having a consistent power supply,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d hate to see what happens in the capital cities in a similar crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The bad news is that when there is no reliable 50Hz baseload supplier of electricity, the solar panel inverters just don\u2019t mesh well with the diesel generators. The frequency of the diesel generators varies slightly as the load changes, and these fluctuations cause issues with solar inverters, which need a stable frequency to synchronize properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence, in a blackout, the solar panels were not just useless, they were a threat to the system, so people were asked to switch them off:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Essential Energy on Friday was urging customers in Broken Hill to switch off their solar supply main switch to protect the 40-year-old backup gas-turbine generator providing power to the town and surrounds.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

From within Broken Hill, a forlorn Jack Marx is dotting out his story in The Australian<\/em> via his phone:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Broken Hill: Powerless and left to live like mushrooms<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Broken Hill, has been in blackout for five days<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The power comes on from time to time, but goes out just as quickly. It gives us just enough time to power our phones and read emails from energy providers sent the day before, alerting us to the fact the power was about to go out. They also warn we don\u2019t have much time, and to avoid using unnecessary electrical devices \u2013 air conditioners, fridges or fans that need a power point.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The unreliable generators survived the storm but were still useless. Giles Parkinson suspects (fervently hopes) that this is just a bureaucratic issue, rather than a technical one:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
AGL\u00a0Silverton Wind farm<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n

Broken Hill has a wind farm, a solar farm and a big battery. So, why are the lights out?<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Giles Parkinson, RenewEconomy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that the wind farm and the solar farm aren\u2019t operating with the transmission line is understandable. But the big battery is supposed to be \u2013 and that could in turn have allowed the wind and solar to produce. No one is saying what\u2019s gone wrong, but many suspect it\u2019s a matter of oversight rather than technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou need to talk to Transgrid,\u201d said one. \u201cYou should talk to Essential,\u201d says another. \u201cAh, that\u2019s AGL\u2019s asset, you better talk to them.\u201d And then. \u201cNo, Tilt Renewables own those. Give them a ring.\u201d And finally, \u201cwe don\u2019t have an official statement now, but we are trying to sort it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It certainly was mismanaged. But that\u2019s just it, isn\u2019t it? A decentralized grid has a million moving parts, and thousand agencies that can all screw up together. Complexity has a cost.<\/em> But it\u2019s not just mismanagement,a wind and solar system is not just expensive, but lacks inherent stability. Sure, eventually, if we hock the nation we can find a way, but why? To make storms nicer in a hundred years?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solar power is not just superfluous, it\u2019s toxic<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The big Broken Hill battery finally restarted on Saturda<\/a>y to help the town cope with the evening peaks in demand for electricity. But the intrinsic problem remains in these remote communities, erratic solar power doesn\u2019t work well with diesel gens, and everything needs to be fully backed up in any case. As we saw in Alice Springs, it didn\u2019t take much solar power, for one big cloud to cause a blackout<\/a>. The Northern Territory was so scarred by that blackout in 2019, they\u2019ve left 4 solar plants sitting there idle ever since<\/a>, in fear they\u2019ll crash the Darwin-Katherine grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So much money and so little to show for it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Even with a price tag, our renewables future is already broke<\/a>n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick Cater, The Australian<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Silverton Wind Farm and Broken Hill Solar plant were supposed to produce enough electricity to power 117,000 homes. They\u2019re supported by AGL\u2019s 50MWh battery facility at Pinnacles Place, one of the largest in Australia. Yet Broken Hill, population 19,000, has been in a semi-permanent state of blackout<\/a> since a storm brought down the transmission line connecting the town to the east coast grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some $650m worth of renewable energy investment within a 25km radius of Broken Hill has proved to be dysfunctional. The technical challenges of operating a grid on renewable energy alone appear insurmountable using the current technology.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Instead of spending $650 million dollars on solar and wind and a battery, we could have bought two brand new useful diesel generators for every remote town in Australia, and then when transmission towers fall down, they won\u2019t be left in the dark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The lights went out in Broken Hill. A storm blew seven transmission towers over disconnecting the area from the national grid on October 17th. About 19,000 people live there, and with a 200MW wind plant, a 53MW solar array and a big battery, plus diesel generators it was assumed they\u2019d be OK for a while without the connection to the big baseload plants, but instead it\u2019s been a debacle. They\u2019ve had nearly a week of blackouts with intermittent bursts of power, barely long enough to charge the phone.<\/p>\n

The fridges in the pharmacies failed, so all medications had to be destroyed and emergency replacements sent in. Schools have been closed. Freezers of meat are long gone\u2026 Emergency trucks are bringing in food finally and hopefully the schools will reopen today. But the full reconnection will not happen until November 6th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":349377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691831163,691818216,691831165,691831162,691831164,691819965],"class_list":{"0":"post-349369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-200mw-wind-plant","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-big-battery","11":"tag-broken-hill","12":"tag-mw-solar-array","13":"tag-nsw","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0dc3b88bdf8bef2711168a3cff339e12b.webp?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1sSZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":423594,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=423594","url_meta":{"origin":349369,"position":0},"title":"Storm Ferm: Remember Uri (centrally planned electricity \u2018transition\u2019 in Texas)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/28\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The current cold snap (\u201cwhere is global warming when you need it?\u201d) makes timely a review of the Texas electricity debacle of February 2021. This post by Robert Bradley, \u201cWind, Solar, and the Great Texas Blackout: Guilty as Charged,\u201d was originally published by the Institute for Energy Research. As of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"\u201cmagical thinking\u201d policymakers\"","block_context":{"text":"\u201cmagical thinking\u201d policymakers","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=magical-thinking-policymakers"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMu-HDswPqIyehP8-4RzGuMHDhmGzIzkpUyFZjZRq3-DWOaMOGQkhsk8K_KbcJbjbI1ao49pVTdMG_5-kuwpPz1MJVAWvgYb7ls-pVrd0cM3bs2ppNwM5vmuKeCXRey.jpeg?fit=1200%2C707&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMu-HDswPqIyehP8-4RzGuMHDhmGzIzkpUyFZjZRq3-DWOaMOGQkhsk8K_KbcJbjbI1ao49pVTdMG_5-kuwpPz1MJVAWvgYb7ls-pVrd0cM3bs2ppNwM5vmuKeCXRey.jpeg?fit=1200%2C707&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMu-HDswPqIyehP8-4RzGuMHDhmGzIzkpUyFZjZRq3-DWOaMOGQkhsk8K_KbcJbjbI1ao49pVTdMG_5-kuwpPz1MJVAWvgYb7ls-pVrd0cM3bs2ppNwM5vmuKeCXRey.jpeg?fit=1200%2C707&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMu-HDswPqIyehP8-4RzGuMHDhmGzIzkpUyFZjZRq3-DWOaMOGQkhsk8K_KbcJbjbI1ao49pVTdMG_5-kuwpPz1MJVAWvgYb7ls-pVrd0cM3bs2ppNwM5vmuKeCXRey.jpeg?fit=1200%2C707&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMu-HDswPqIyehP8-4RzGuMHDhmGzIzkpUyFZjZRq3-DWOaMOGQkhsk8K_KbcJbjbI1ao49pVTdMG_5-kuwpPz1MJVAWvgYb7ls-pVrd0cM3bs2ppNwM5vmuKeCXRey.jpeg?fit=1200%2C707&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":254165,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=254165","url_meta":{"origin":349369,"position":1},"title":"Why 100% Wind & Solar 100% Guarantees Blackouts and Rocketing Power Prices","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/22\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"No civilised country has ever powered itself entirely with wind and solar; no country ever will. And yet the grand wind and solar \u2018transition\u2019 \u2013 being peddled by rent-seekers and crony capitalists \u2013 is still taken as an article of faith by the na\u00efve and gullible.","rel":"","context":"In \"Batterie\"","block_context":{"text":"Batterie","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=batterie"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-windfarm-fire.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-windfarm-fire.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-windfarm-fire.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-windfarm-fire.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-windfarm-fire.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":353468,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=353468","url_meta":{"origin":349369,"position":2},"title":"Wind and Solar Can\u2019t Support the Grid","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/06\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"In October of 2025, the isolated small city of Broken Hill in New South Wales, Australia with a 36 MW load (including the large nearby mines) could not be reliably served by 200 MW of wind, a 53 MW solar array, significant residential solar, and a large 50 MW battery\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Australia\"","block_context":{"text":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=australia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0shots-of-broken-hill-v0-osnob0ij7l9a1.webp?fit=1080%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0shots-of-broken-hill-v0-osnob0ij7l9a1.webp?fit=1080%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0shots-of-broken-hill-v0-osnob0ij7l9a1.webp?fit=1080%2C720&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0shots-of-broken-hill-v0-osnob0ij7l9a1.webp?fit=1080%2C720&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0shots-of-broken-hill-v0-osnob0ij7l9a1.webp?fit=1080%2C720&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":202259,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=202259","url_meta":{"origin":349369,"position":3},"title":"Blackout Blame Shifting: Wind & Solar Collapses Responsible for Unplanned Power Outages","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/31\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Wind and solar generators happily take credit when the sun\u2019s up and the wind\u2019s blowing, but dodge all criticism when blackouts follow sunset and\/or calm weather. 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Former energy users are being\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Screenshot-2022-06-21-100813.png?fit=837%2C556&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Screenshot-2022-06-21-100813.png?fit=837%2C556&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Screenshot-2022-06-21-100813.png?fit=837%2C556&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Screenshot-2022-06-21-100813.png?fit=837%2C556&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":249091,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=249091","url_meta":{"origin":349369,"position":5},"title":"Indiana Bill to Protect Electric Grid from Blackouts Passes","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/22\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The passage of HB 1007 is another major victory for protecting the nation\u2019s electricity grid.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-921.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-921.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-921.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-921.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-921.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=349369"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349379,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349369\/revisions\/349379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/349377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=349369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=349369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=349369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}