370,000 Victorian lose power after severe storm knocks out transmission towers
Hundreds of thousands Victorians could be left without power for weeks as storms damage six transmission towers
READING LEVEL: GREEN
Victorians could be left without power for “days, if not weeks” after hundreds of thousands of homes lost power and large industrial* users were ordered to shut down after the state’s largest electricity power station* suffered an outage*, forcing the country’s energy market operator to execute emergency measures to safeguard the stability of the grid*.
AGL Energy’s Loy Yang A coal plant* went offline* yesterday, with the state government attributing the outage to the physical collapse of six transmission towers* due to storm damage.
An earlier unrelated partial outage at Victoria’s second largest generator*, EnergyAustralia’s Yallourn, further exacerbated* the shortfall*, leaving Alinta’s Loy Yang B as the only remaining coal power station in a state where coal still provides more power than any other energy source.
“Given the extent of the widespread damage, it may take days if not weeks to restore electricity to all of those impacted*,” a Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) spokesperson posted to X.
The outages forced the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) to order electricity wholesalers* to switch off power to 90,000 households, in a practice known as load shedding* – a deliberate reduction of supply to selected areas during extreme events to protect the electricity network from long-term damage and widespread blackouts. The remaining 400,000 odd homes and businesses were disconnected due to other storm damage. Loy Yang A’s trip caused wholesale electricity prices to spike* exponentially*, with industry experts concerned the situation could worsen amid the evening peak*, with the temperature across Victoria still high after reaching 40C in some parts of the state, as storms brought cloud cover and gusty winds, limiting the availability of solar and wind power.
Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio met AEMO chief executive Daniel Westerman amid the crisis*, which she attributed it to the “unprecedented* impact of extreme weather on Victoria’s power grid”.
Victorian Chamber of Commerce* and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra said the biggest risk for businesses and consumers was the reliability*, security and affordability of energy.
“This outage merely highlights how fragile our system is,” Mr Guerra said.
GLOSSARY
- outage: when something stops working, like electricity suddenly not being available
- industrial: having to do with big businesses and factories
- power station: a place where electricity is made
- grid: a system of wires and equipment that delivers electricity to homes and buildings
- coal plant: a power station that uses coal to make electricity
- offline: not working or not connected to the internet
- transmission towers: tall structures that carry electricity over long distances
- generator: a machine that produces electricity
- exacerbated: means to make a problem, bad situation, or negative feeling worse or more severe
- shortfall: not having enough of something that’s needed
- electricity wholesalers: companies that buy and sell electricity
- load shedding: turning off power to some places to prevent bigger problems
- spike: a sudden increase in something
- exponentially: a big increase that happens more and more quickly over time
- peak: the busiest or most active time
- crisis: a very serious and dangerous situation
- unprecedented: something that hasn’t happened before or is very rare
- impacted: the effect or influence that something has
- chamber of commerce and industry: a group that helps businesses and industries in a particular area
- reliability: Being able to depend on something to work correctly
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QUICK QUIZ
- What caused the power outage in Victoria?
- How did the storm damage affect the electricity supply in the state?
- What is load shedding, and why do electricity wholesalers do it?
- Why did the prices of electricity spike after the outage at Loy Yang A?
- Who met amid the crisis, and what was the main concern they discussed regarding energy?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. What would change?
How would losing power for weeks change your day-to-day life? Write a list of things or activities that you would not be able to do or have. Next to each item on your list, write a solution (a way to do it without electricity) or an alternative (something else you could do or use).
Time: allow at least 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social Capability
2. Extension
Create a design for a transmission tower that would not collapse in a severe storm. Use your research skills to help you find out about the towers and ideas for materials or structures that could be strong enough.
Time: allow at least 40 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science, Design and Technologies
VCOP ACTIVITY
To sum it up
After reading the article, use your comprehension skills to summarise in a maximum of three sentences what the article is about.
Think about:
What is the main topic or idea?
What is an important or interesting fact?
Who was involved (people or places)?
Use your VCOP skills to re-read your summary to make sure it is clear, specific and well punctuated.