Approaching sunset on Saturday 12th November 2022 the South Australian region was electrically islanded from the eastern regions of the NEM.
This was noted by AEMO in Market Notice 103064 as follows:
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MARKET NOTICE
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From : AEMO
To : NEMITWEB1
Creation Date : 12/11/2022 16:59:34
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Notice ID : 103064
Notice Type ID : POWER SYSTEM EVENTS
Notice Type Description : Emergency events/conditions
Issue Date : 12/11/2022
External Reference : Significant power system event – 12/11/2022
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Reason :
AEMO ELECTRICITY MARKET NOTICE.
Significant power system event – 12/11/2022
At 1639 hrs 12/11/2022 a significant power system event occurred.
Description of event – Multiple tripping of transmission lines
Transmission element(s) tripped – Tailem Bend – South East 275 kV #1 & #2 Lines
Region – SA
Identified islands formed as a result of this contingency event – SA and Eastern NEM
Updates will be provided as additional information becomes available.
This Market Notice is issued in accordance with NER clause 4.8.3.
Manager NEM Real Time Operations
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END OF REPORT
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No word in this note from the AEMO about the cause of this trip, or possible rectification time.
(A) Earlier network outages
But it is worth noting several prior Market Notices today about earlier network outages …
(A1) Bungama-Snowtown-Hummocks and Bungama-Redhill-Brinkworth 132 kV Lines
MN103053 at 15:14 (and MN103054) speaks of an earlier network outage in South Australia:
‘At 1445 hrs the Bungama-Snowtown-Hummocks and Bungama-Redhill-Brinkworth 132 kV Lines tripped. AEMO did not instruct load shedding. AEMO has not been advised of any disconnection of bulk electrical load. The cause of this non credible contingency event is not known at this stage.’
(A2) Angas Creek-Para 132kV line
Market Notice (MN103058) from 16:01 that speaks of an earlier network outage in South Australia:
‘At 1545 hrs 12/11/2022 there was an unplanned outage of Angas Creek-Para 132 kV Line.
The following constraint set(s) invoked at 1600 hrs 12/11/2022
S-ACPA’
(B) A simple view, in NEMwatch
Here’s a quick look at the market situation for the 17:20 dispatch interval via NEMwatch v10:
We can see that the SA dispatch price for ENERGY has dropped to –$1,000/MWh as a result (there’s plenty of wind in South Australia, but not enough demand to sell it to).
Note that the small flow shown from VIC into SA will be supplying the disconnected part of South Australia (e.g. Mt Gambier and environs) still connected to the eastern NEM.
(C) More visibility in ez2view
… but that’s only part of the picture, as we see here in this snapshot from ez2view in real time at 17:25:
Noted on the image:
1) A number of FCAS prices in the SA region have spiked to the Market Price Cap because the gusty wind has led to a situation where there is a shortage of suppliers local in South Australia; and
2) We also see some of the constraint sets invoked to manage the islanding
… and also (under that) the constraint sets still in place because of the challenges remaining in Tasmania following the transmission disruption.
3) In the generation summary for South Australia we see:
(a) Approximately 500MW production from wind and solar (not much of which is registered to supply any FCAS services) hence squeezing supply from other units
(b) Real time level of inertia in the islanded SA grid at over 8,800 MWs
…. which you might like to reference against this historical review of inertia in the SA region (which we originally published as part of the GRC2018).
(D) Rainfall in South Australia
In the third image in this article we see this map of rainfall from the BOM:
I wonder whether the line trip was a result of this storm activity (lightning, or other)?
That was all …. briefly!
PS1 – wild weather on social media
It’s been pointed out to me that there’s some conversations happening on Twitter today about wild weather in South Australia, including these threads:
1) By Sarah Banks here (static image here, click through for video and conversation):
2) By ‘Dig_n_Cook’ here (static image here, click through for video and conversation):
PS2 – AEMO updates via MN103066
At 17:39 the AEMO published Market Notice 103066 … but it does not really provide more information at this stage:
——————————————————————-
MARKET NOTICE
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From : AEMO
To : NEMITWEB1
Creation Date : 12/11/2022 17:39:36
——————————————————————-
Notice ID : 103066
Notice Type ID : POWER SYSTEM EVENTS
Notice Type Description : Emergency events/conditions
Issue Date : 12/11/2022
External Reference : Non-credible contingency event – SA region – 12/11/2022
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Reason :
AEMO ELECTRICITY MARKET NOTICE.
Non-credible contingency event – SA region – 12/11/2022
Refer AEMO ELECTRICITY MARKET NOTICE 103064.
At 1639 hrs the Tailem Bend – South East 275 kV #1 and #2 Lines tripped.
AEMO did not instruct load shedding.
AEMO has not been advised of any disconnection of bulk electrical load.
The cause of this non credible contingency event is not known at this stage.
Manager NEM Real Time Operations
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END OF REPORT
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PS3 – 7News Adelaide reports ~80,000 without power
One of our readers has pointed me at this twitter update from 7News Adelaide … which speaks of ~80,000 people without power (presumably due to localised network outages):
The report mentions ‘more than 143,000 lightning strikes’ … which seemed like a mammoth number ….
PS4 – SAPN reports ~423,000 lightning strikes
… but then I thought I would check out what our friends at SA Power Networks were reporting, with this reference to ‘more than 423,000 lightning strikes’ in this social media update at 17:43 NEM time :
… with only 3,600 seconds in an hour, that equates to an average rate of ~7 strikes every second consistently over an 18 hour period!
PS5 – AEMO notes longer duration of islanding
At 21:07 the AEMO published Market Notice 103067 to announce the islanding would continue until Friday 18th November 2022:
‘——————————————————————-
MARKET NOTICE
——————————————————————-
From : AEMO
To : NEMITWEB1
Creation Date : 12/11/2022 21:07:37
——————————————————————-
Notice ID : 103067
Notice Type ID : POWER SYSTEM EVENTS
Notice Type Description : Emergency events/conditions
Issue Date : 12/11/2022
External Reference : Update – Significant power system event – 12/11/2022
——————————————————————-
Reason :
AEMO ELECTRICITY MARKET NOTICE.
Update – Significant power system event – 12/11/2022
Refer AEMO Electricity Notice 103064
At 1639 hrs 12/11/2022 a significant power system event occurred.
Description of event – Multiple tripping of transmission lines
Transmission element(s) tripped – Tailem Bend – South East 275 kV No 1 and 2 Lines
Region – SA
Identified islands formed as a result of this contingency event – SA and Eastern NEM
AEMO has been advised that the Tailem Bend – South East No 1 and 2 Lines will remain out of service until 1700 hrs 18/11/2022.
Refer to AEMO Network Outage Schedule for further information.
Manager NEM Real Time Operations
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END OF REPORT
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It would seem that there’s been some damage to something somewhere?
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