Original title: Stromausfälle in South Australia in den Jahren 2016 und 2017
With wind and solar energy accounting for 40% of its electricity generation, the state of South Australia (SA) is among the world's forerunners in the expansion of renewable energies. Like other parts of Australia, SA is affected by power cuts fairly often.
Particularly serious was the cut on 28.9.2016, which affected almost the entire population of the state, in part for more than 24 hours. This event triggered impassioned public and political debates in Australia. The Conservative federal government and parts of the press placed the responsibility on the supposedly unreliable renewable energies and attacked their proponents. On the other hand, SA’s Labor government argued that the causes of the power failure were more diverse.
This brief report describes the background and chain of events of 28 September 2016, discusses the causes of the power failure, and describes the subsequent political debate. Finally, conclusions and lessons learned are drawn. In addition, an overview of a minor power failure that occurred on 8 February 2017 is given.