1.3 million homes could face blackouts this summer
According to a new report from the Australian Energy Market Operator, the 2019 Electricity Statement of Opportunities report, 1.3 million Victorian homes could be affected by blackouts this summer.
The report specifically highlights a need to hasten repairs to a unit of AGL's Loy Yang A coal-fired power plant in the Latrobe Valley and one at Origin Energy's Mortlake gas-fired plant.
Detailed in the report, if these two repairs are not made until late December, they "pose a significant risk of insufficient supply".
Even so, the report details that "if both power station outages were extended over the summer, and if no additional supply was secured, involuntary load shedding may be experienced in Victoria during extreme weather events, potentially over multiple events, equivalent to between 260,000 and 1.3 million households being without power for four hours," it said.
As coal-fired power stations age, they become increasingly unreliable and a small issue can take months to fix.
Are you worried about older Australians losing power in 50'C heat?
This is a very sad situation and yes, I do have fears for elderly people who have health problems. Hopefully it will not come to this.