AEMO says ageing coal and gas plants add to the risk of blackouts.

AEMO’s latest annual Electricity State of Opportunities (ESOO) report covers the risk of “unserved energy” leading to blackouts and load shedding.

“The forecast risk of load shedding in 2018-19 has increased since the 2017 ESOO, primarily because modelling has now factored in a reduction in thermal generation reliability observed in recent years,” AEMO says.

AEMO is particularly concerned about the risk of outages or load-shedding this coming summer in Victoria.

It predicts a one in three chance of outages, due to the state of the coal and gas generators and the risk of extreme weather conditions.

The full report is accessible here.