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Phoenix666 writes:

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) says wind-powered electricity generation's "intermittency" had nothing to do with the blackouts following South Australia's catastrophic storms in late September.

In its ongoing investigation of what caused the "system black" event on 28 September, the AEMO says the storm caused a loss of 445 MW of wind output (out of a total loss of 900 MW), rather than the 315 MW of its original estimate.

However, AEMO's updated preliminary report (PDF) makes it clear that the political assertions made about wind energy were false.

"The most well known characteristic of wind power, variation of output with wind strength (often termed 'intermittency'), was not a material factor in the events of 28 September 2016", the report states on page 21.

Only 20 MW of wind power disconnected due to excessive wind speed. Instead, most loss of wind output was down to how the wind farms' control systems were configured – in particular, the settings for "voltage ride-through" events, which the report notes are proprietary settings in the control software.

For more information on the storm, see coverage by CNN, The Guardian , The Conversation and ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

"Bad Bespoke Software." Software shouldn't have spokes. That's the problem right there.

Original Submission