The electricity generator being built as part of the Hydrogen Jobs Plan is critical to energy supply in South Australia, a new Australian Energy Market Operator report on energy reliability reveals.
The State Government-owned generator being built in Whyalla has been proven essential as it must connect to the grid as soon as possible to counterbalance the impacts of early closures and delays.
These include closures of privately operated gas-fired generators and fresh cross-border delays to the interconnector being built between SA and NSW.
Without the Hydrogen Jobs Plan generator, the state would be at risk of failing to meet national reliability standards, according to the report published by AEMO.
Member of the South Australian House of Assembly, Tom Koutsantonis said these developments have proven investment in the Hydrogen Jobs Plan was essential.
“This is an independent assessment that proves the Hydrogen Jobs Plan is good for jobs, good for the environment and good for all households in this state,” said Koutsantonis.
In today’s report, AEMO now expects a full 800-megawatt of expected connector capacity to only be available by July 2027 because of the NSW delays.
Changes, and other developments interstate, have led AEMO to publish today’s update to its 2023 report.
SA demand usually gets to about 1500MW a day but exceeds 3000MW during summer heatwaves.
In SA, however, AEMO has factored the Malinauskas Government’s Hydrogen Jobs Plan 200MW generator into its central scenario to be built in 2025-26 and fully commissioned by 2026-27.
The new Hydrogen Jobs Plan turbine will greatly reduce risk, putting SA into safe territory to meet the tight interim reliability standard and keep the lights on once it is fired up.