Analysis

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South Australia’s election: a renewed Labor mandate or a history-making first for One Nation

As South Australia heads to the polls this Saturday, energy is shaping up as one of the key issues. The debate is being driven by two very different visions for the state’s future. Based on current polling, Peter Malinauskas’s Labor Government is expected to be re-elected, likely with an increased majority. However, it remains unclear who will form the opposition, with recent polling suggesting Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is currently favoured to take that role. This sets up the election as a clear comparison between two very different approaches to energy. Read more.

BY Tom Monaghan Mar 19 2026

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South Australia: Famine one day, feast the next (but one)

South Australia could borrow a slogan from another state based on recent vagaries and challenges thrown up by its energy grid. One day it experienced spot prices exceeding $5000/MWh six times between 6pm and midnight and two days later it was reporting near-record minimum demand, which required the step of curtailing rooftop solar to ensure grid stability.

BY Carl Kitchen May 20 2021

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A fresh challenge: How to account for zero or negative demand?

The continued fall in minimum demand levels to new record lows in South Australia is raising a new challenge for the market.

BY Carl Kitchen Dec 03 2020

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California dreaming of secure supplies

California has been grappling with a challenge familiar to parts of Australia’s energy market – how to make a seamless transition to a lower carbon grid. In California, as with South Australia in 2016, the transition was put to a stress test by a weather event. In the case of the US state it was a heatwave described as one of the worst in years leading to rolling blackouts.

BY Carl Kitchen Aug 27 2020

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South Australia faces solar trade off

The latest assessment of the implications of South Australia’s successful uptake of renewables, and rooftop solar PV in particular, reads like a thriller with plenty of twists.

BY Carl Kitchen Jun 25 2020

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SA EnergyConnect: RiverLink with rigour

Last week ElectraNet issued its SA Energy Transformation RIT-T Project Assessment Conclusions Report, which proposes a $1.5 billion 800MW 330kV 920km interconnector between South Australia and New South Wales. We take a look at that the report found.

BY Duncan MacKinnon Mar 20 2019

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SA takes its energy experiment back to the lab

This week the South Australian Government announced a radical plan to improve the reliability of the state’s electricity grid. This follows blackouts in the state on 8 February (90,000 households), 20 January (55,000 households), 28 December 2016 (155,000 households), 30 November (200,000 households), a system black event in September 2016 (whole state), an electricity price spike event in July 2016 and a blackout in November 2015 (110,000 households).

BY Matthew Warren Mar 16 2017

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SA pioneering Australia’s energy transformation

The operation of a relatively isolated, high intermittent generation grid in South Australia is revealing new challenges about how we will need to manage these systems in the future.

BY Kieran Donoghue Nov 24 2016

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Intermittent renewables: A balancing act

With increasing amount of intermittent generation entering the National Electricity Market, there are reviews underway into their potential impact on energy security. The COAG Energy Council recently agreed to appoint an expert panel to consider energy security, while AEMO is looking at the effects of increased intermittent generation on the Frequency Control Ancillary Services market.

BY Nick Cannard Oct 27 2016