Tasmania’s Power Shortage Reaches Crisis Levels

• 8 years ago (2016-03-14)
• David Flin

North America 1004 Renewables 757

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Until recently, the Australian island state of Tasmania imported 30 per cent of its electricity from coal-fired plants on the mainland through the Basslink power and communications cable, while 60 per cent came from the island’s hydroelectric dams and stations, and 10 per cent from wind farms.

However, the Basslink cable broke in December 2015, and water levels in the dams are threatening record lows, leaving the future of Tasmania’s power supply uncertain.

Industrial energy users on the island account for 60 per cent of Tasmania’s power usage, and they have been asked to ration their usage, resulting in fears of job cuts. Some contractors have already reported being asked not to come into work.

Repairs to the Basslink cable are expected to take months to complete, and dam levels, currently standing at 15.5 per cent capacity, are predicted to fall to 14 per cent before stabilising. To ease the power shortage, 200 diesel generators have been shipped to Tasmania from the mainland, with the promise of more to come; a mothballed gas-fired power station has been brought back on-line, and chemical cloud seeding to encourage rainfall will soon begin.