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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday March 01 2017, @06:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the server-room-is-cool-(until-it-isn't) dept.

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Australia's electronic spy agency, the Australian Signals Directorate, was forced to rely on diesel backup generators when the nation's power supply came under intense pressure during last month's heatwave. The Department of Defence Directorate is a heavy user of power, probably related to the use of powerful computers.

ASD shifted to generators as a precautionary measure because it was concerned about the reliability of the grid, where the local power supplier feared it would be required to conduct rolling blackouts across Canberra, where ASD is housed, to meet the demands of the Australian Energy Market Operator to help stabilise the network.

However it suffered only minor outages after households, businesses and government agencies helped reduce demand.

Politicians are using the event to argue about renewable energy.

There are no indications anyone missed out on being spied on while this occurred.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/spy-agency-australian-signals-directorate-forced-to-operate-on-generators-during-heatwave-20170301-guo7ep.html


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @12:56AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @12:56AM (#473646)

    We have an organization which thought it was important enough to get a backup system (e.g. as a hospital may invest in generators, or a personal home invest in generators). Then the situation became unstable enough that they wanted to use that backup system.

    So why is this a story? What's the angle?

    Is it that the Australian power grid is unreliable? Is it a "hey, that's cool" because a spy agency is involved? Is this just an excuse for a few people to rant against the "big-brother fascist state?"

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @04:39AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @04:39AM (#473740)

    I'd guess an excuse to rant against big brother, all though I was secretly hoping solar power was involved somehow so there'd be a good flamewar. (That stuff is entertainment to me when I have downtime and nothing better to do, just how emotionally charged it can get, delicious.)

    Personally I'm of the opinion that they should just shutter the facility instead of burning fuel, but I'm just some AC on the internet. The machine will continue grinding through human lives selling pre-packaged, shrink-wrapped misery for increasingly record profits whether or not I flap my gums.