The South Australian Council of Social Service (SACOSS) has warned of forced blackouts as soon as next summer as the state moves to wind and solar energy.
SACOSS has joined a growing list of charity and business groups that fear energy will soon become more expensive and unreliable, leading to suburbs being blacked out for days or even weeks at a time.
A SACOSS-commissioned report, obtained by The Advertiser, warned so-called load-shedding could occur more frequently and on a wide scale, costing millions of dollars.
However, Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said supplies are safe and a recent network failure is unlikely to recur, as reported by The Advertiser.
Widespread load-shedding, or controlled blackouts, last occurred in the extreme heatwave of 2009. However, it was also undertaken last year when the interconnector between SA and Victoria failed and SA’s wind and solar energy sources were unable to meet demand – affecting about 110,000 homes.
