World News – AU – Wind farm fined $ 1 million for violating national rules ahead of SA’s nationwide blackout

A Sydney man was acquitted of murder but found guilty of manslaughter after more than two years of killing a samurai sword during a botched home invasion.

A South Australian wind farm operator was fined $ 1 million for violating national electricity regulations in the three years prior to the 2016 nationwide blackout.

The Australian Energy Regulatory Authority (AER) took legal action against the Stage 2 (SWF2) wind farm in Snowtown last year.

The company – according to the ruling of the federal court – in the relevant period « a wholly owned subsidiary of Trustpower Limited » – was accused of supplying electricity to the grid when the Australian energy market operator (AEMO) had not approved it.

The AER has also taken legal action against three other wind farms – Hornsdale, Clement’s Gap from Pacific Hydro and Hallett from AGL – but the results of these cases have yet to be determined.

The power failure occurred on 28. September 2016, when extreme weather known at the time as « twin tornadoes » severely damaged the electricity infrastructure and brought huge transmission lines to a standstill.

The AER said a later loss of wind generation then triggered the blackout, the 850. 000 customers without electricity.

SWF2 accepted the US $ 1 million fine requested by AER and Justice Richard White. The infringement was « not intentional » and the company had « immediately taken steps to correct the situation ». .

The federal court today ordered the company – which has 90 wind turbines in north-central SA – to implement a compliance program and hire an independent « compliance expert » to ensure it will comply with regulations going forward.

Judge Richard White said the wind farm had installed low voltage protection systems on each of its turbines to « protect against abnormal grid voltage fluctuations » – but they were set to a lower threshold than required by the National Electricity Rules (NER).

« The obvious purpose of these provisions in the NER is to set the performance standards in liaison agreements . . . with the aim of ensuring that the electricity grid works safely and reliably, « he said in his judgment.

He said the NER « places an obligation » on power generators like SWF2 to put in place protection systems to deal with episodes of abnormal voltage in the power grid.

« The purpose of such systems is to ensure that the generating units remain in continuous operation during specified disturbances, thereby helping AEMO maintain the security of the power system, » he said.

« On 28. September 2016 occurred within approx. 90 seconds six undervoltage faults in the power grid.

« In response to the sixth low voltage incident, the [low voltage protection system] was activated on 34 of the 37 turbines that were in operation at the time, causing them to shut down and cut off the power supply to the system.

« This was related to the widespread power outage that occurred in South Australia that day. « 

The court ordered « Respondent to pay the Commonwealth of Australia a fine of US $ 1 million for the offense ». .

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AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time, 10 hours before GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)

Wind Farm, Snow Town, Power Outage, South Australia, Wind Turbine