[roel_v]

Not a 'deep' insight I'm afraid, but the particular problem they're referencing is that SA isn't generating any power on their own (after shutting down coals plants a few years ago). So they import from Victoria, but all of that import goes through a single line; so then there's a storm that knocks that line out, and the whole state goes black. That particular line was fixed quite quickly (I was in downtown Adelaide at the time, I think we were out of power for 4 or 5 hours or so); but the more remote areas didn't have power until 3 or 4 days later.

I'm not sure why it took that long, but I guess it's that you can't just flick a switch and everything is powered on again. You have to phase it to avoid peaks and some areas/power stations might be hard to reach or a bunch of coordination/equipment checks are needed before they can be started up; and the more remote, the lower the priority.

So, more local buffering = less problems when the main feed drops out. If local areas can be self-reliant for some time, and help to smooth out peak demands on startup, it's much less of a problem when there is a failure high up the line. It doesn't solve the total production problem, obviously.