How severe thunderstorms impact energy infrastructure
Ashleigh Madden of WeatherZone explores how thunderstorms damage transmission and whether a trend of these related weather events exists.
Read Morebeginning 2024-02-13, with Victoria transmission towers destroyed
A series of articles related to what happened on Tuesday 13th February 2024 … but also the aftermath (in the months afterwards) related to several things, such as:
1) Investigations into what happened, why, and lessons learnt
2) Recovery following the event (in the hours, days, weeks and months) following the event – including:
(a) Returning supply to 100,000s of customers off supply
(b) The repair and return to service of the damaged transmission line
We can’t say yet if grid-breaking thunderstorms are getting worse – but we shouldn’t wait to find out
Reflecting on the transmission tower failures in Victoria in February, a group of researchers from the University of Melbourne have put together this summary of what the long-term wind data is showing, and what it means for the power system.
Temporary replacement towers up, for the Moorabool Sydenham No2 500 kV line (from 12:10 on Wed 6th March 2024)
That same reader has helped point out that temporary towers brought the Moorabool Sydenham No2 500 kV line back into service on Wed 6th March 2024 (following No1 line RTS on Sun 25th Feb 2024).
Temporary replacement towers up, for the Moorabool Sydenham No1 500 kV line (on Sun 25th Feb 2024)
A reader has helped point out that temporary towers brought the Moorabool Sydenham No1 500 kV line back into service on Sun 25th Feb 2024 (with No2 line still out).
AEMO Preliminary Operating Incident Report (re Tue 13th February 2024) is available
AEMO’s preliminary operating incident report for what happened on Tuesday 13th February 2024 is available now.
Convective downdrafts and high-voltage transmission lines
In light of another transmission tower collapse caused by convective wind gusts, we’ve invited wind loading expert Dr John Holmes to explain this phenomena.
Weathering the Storm: Victoria’s Record-Breaking Energy Day
Perhaps unrealised by many, but Tuesday afternoon’s events in Victoria resulted in a new record low in terms of number of coal units being online in the region, Geoff Eldridge explores.
[SLIGHTLY UPDATED] a sequence of events for what happened in Victoria through the day on Tuesday 13th February 2024 (via Timescale #1)
In this article we’ll have a first pass at what happened in Victoria on Tuesday 13th February 2024 at a DI-by-DI level … which we call ‘Timeline #1’ level – noting will go more granular later (Timeline #2) and less granular later (Timeline #3).
Part 2: Too much rooftop PV in SA, almost, as forecast for 15th February 2024
An an elevated risk of the contingent disconnection of Distributed PV resurfaces for SA on 15 February 2024 with market notice 114743.
Too much rooftop PV in SA, almost, as forecast for 15th February 2024
Market notice 114741 cancelled the notice of a high risk of curtailment of distributed PV in SA on 15 February 2024.
Some *initial* headline questions following the transmission damage, unit trips & loss of load, initiated on Tuesday 13th February 2024
What happened yesterday (Tue 13th Feb 2024) in Victoria was a significant event in the history of the NEM – and the flow on effects will be felt for weeks and months (even years?). Here’s a starting list of questions we’d like to explore…
Another tower collapse poses more questions about transmission
The sixth transmission tower failure within the NEM in almost four years, has prompted further questions about the physical network and its resilience to severe convective winds.
Hiccup in return to service of Loy Yang A2
A follow up on the (bumpy) return to service for Loy Yang A2