Heat Pressuring SE Australia Power Grid; Wholesale $14,000/kWh, Peak Temps Saturday

[hatrack]

EDIT

Hay Airport reached 47.4 degrees, making it the third-hottest temperature recorded in February for NSW - a high mark that might be bettered as soon as Saturday. The abnormal heat could push the mercury to the state's hottest overall temperature on record for February on Saturday, reaching about 8 degrees above normal. Authorities have also declared a total fire ban for all of NSW for both days of the weekend.

Paramedics were earlier reporting a spike in call-outs during the hotter weather, with people suffering from sunburn, dehydration and heat exhaustion as Sydney set a record for the number of summer days over 35 degrees and most of the city roasted in the 40s.

The threat of power shortages was real, with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) at one point warning that forecast demand for 5-6pm would exceed supply by 189 megawatts.

EDIT

South Australia bore the early brunt of the heat, with power shortages on Wednesday evening triggering load shedding that blacked out tens of thousands of homes for about half an hour. Those cuts also reignited debate over the role of renewable energy, although locally available gas-fired power went unused. The state avoided a repeat of the outages on Thursday even as the mercury climbed to as high as 48.2 degrees at Tarcoola, matching South Australia's record for February.

EDIT

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/sydney-weather-energy-minister-pleads-for-help-to-avoid-heatwave-power-blackout-20170209-gu9po9.html

[dumbcat]

1. Wow! $14,000/kWh is pretty steep

I pay about $0.11/kWh. Maybe that's Aussie dollars?

Sorry, just pulling your leg. Hopefully you meant per GWh. But I'm surprised nobody brought it up all day. (Or maybe I'm just an asshole like that?)