Sweltering Australians urged: No cooking, TV
Print Edition
MAJOR energy users in Australia shut down yesterday, and the public were asked not to go home and cook or watch television, averting big blackouts amid strained supplies as an extreme heatwave moved from the desert interior to the east coast.
The temperature climbed to 47 degrees Celsius in parts of New South Wales state and the Australian Capital Territory yesterday, while today is expected to see a record for the hottest February day on record.
The extreme heat caused power prices to soar to an unprecedented A$14,000 (US$10,700) per megawatt-hour as power stations struggle to meet skyrocketing demand for cooling.
Authorities had been preparing to temporarily suspend power to selected areas of New South Wales late yesterday to prevent overload just days after 40,000 homes and businesses lost electricity in the state of South Australia.
But the Australian Energy Market Operator said late yesterday tight power supply conditions had subsided for the day, without power cuts to residents.
“AEMO can confirm that residential load-shedding was not required at any point throughout the day ... predominantly due to reduced electricity consumption across the state,” it said in a statement.
NSW Energy Minister Don Harwin urged households and businesses to save electricity.
“Rather than going straight home and turning on the television and cooking, (you might) want to consider going to a movie, going out to a shopping center, keeping the load low, every bit like that helps,” Harwin told reporters in Sydney.
A paper mill, water treatment operations and Australia’s largest aluminium smelter, Tomago, were among businesses that halted operations to conserve energy, with many industrial users required to do so under their contracts.
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