[stephen_g]

Note for anyone coming along - we don't actually experience frequent brownouts or rolling outages here in Australia, compared to almost everywhere else in the world... We have extrememly high grid reliability standards and the grid operator pulls out all the stops when a possible lack of reserve is forecast.

There have been the rare cases of load shedding, usually when thermal generators are unexpectadely offline (one a few years ago was when a coal plant actually blew up).

[smcleod]

We really do, they're very common here in Melbourne. Most summers we experience brown outs / load shedding and throughout the year the grid here struggles with changes in load (dimming lights, short-lived UPS activation etc...).

[jhealy]

I live in Melbourne (on Jemena’s distribution network) and this isn’t my experience.

Our power is very reliable and rarely goes out. Every few years a car hits a pole or something and we get a brief period of quiet time

[smcleod]

Interesting! May I ask what area you lived in (not due to the power distributor, but the age of the infrastructure in the area). The areas I've had issues are Brunswick, Thornbury and Footscray. Folks at work (we're a bit spread out but mostly Melbourne based) often talk of minor outages etc...

I actually had some electronics fail quite recently after a number of minor outages and speaking with insurance they were saying it's very common in certain areas where the infrastructure is aging or has recently been struck by lightening.

I have noticed the operating voltage in the inner north seems to vary between as low as 217V to 246V, but it's quite frequent you notice the lights dimming in houses round here. I don't think there were any last summer (if you could call it a summer) but usually I'd experience 2-5 (ish) complete outages on hot days, when I spoke to someone in know they said this is normal as they load shed you can experience short outages.

[caf]

Load shedding is quite rare, I believe the only instance recently in Melbourne was on the 13th of February when several transmission towers carrying the Moorabool-Sydneham 500kV circuits were destroyed in the severe storms that day, and load-shedding was required to keep the system in a secure state.

Outages are almost always due to faults in the local distribution network.

[seb1204]

Who's operating the grid in Melbourne?

[caf]

There are 5 different businesses that own and operate the distribution network in different parts of Melbourne (AusNet, Jemena, Citipower, Powercor and United Energy).

AusNet owns & maintains the transmission network in Victoria, but it is under the operational control of AEMO.

Dispatch of generation and FCAS instructions is NEM-wide and the responsibility of AEMO.

[TeaBrain]

Interesting that there are so many different businesses responsible for supplying electricity in Melbourne. This might explain why several people have mentioned having different experiences with the reliability of the grid in Melbourne. In Chicago, Commonwealth Edison is responsible for the entirety of the grid.

[justinclift]

That wasn't my experience when living in Melbourne, though I moved away in 2022.

[blahlabs]

It isn't my experience either, having lived in various suburbs in Melbourne since 2012.

Power outages happen, but I've been through maybe half dozen in my time here.

Same with brown outs. Not unheard of but far from common.

Although I spend my days at the office so maybe I miss some things, but equally I get an email if my home UPS activates and that has happened perhaps twice.

[andyferris]

I feel like this must be a Melbourne thing. I haven’t experienced any such issues since the 90’s (apart from local lightning strikes causing brief outages).

[notachatbot123]

Can you point to at least 10 different trustworthy sources about this?

[smcleod]

Can you point to at least 10 different trustworthy sources that show the reliability and quality of power? Specifically in Thornbury, Footscray and Brunswick.

[seb1204]

Thanks, NSW resident, I was going to write the same.

The Australian grid is at the forefront %age of renewable energy in the grid. This brings new challenges with it to which the answer is more batteries and more wind and solar.

[feisty0630]

But the NT (where the cable is running to) isn't connected to the Australian grid (which is effectively the East Coast, SA, and Tasmania), and there are no plans to do so. The Darwin grid is currently ~4-10% renewables depending on the day.

[smcleod]

~4-10% ! Jesus that's bad!

[dzhiurgis]

> when a coal plant actually blew up

Is that when entire states power (2gw) went from being produced to being consumed as a massive electric motor to 50k rpm and shooting into sky?

[stephen_g]

Yes, that one! They made a whole video about how it happened:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=vbLvjFohK9g&pp=ygUJQ2FsbGlkZSBj

[grecy]

You also pay extremely high prices for electricity because the big coal plant operators are in bed with the government

[seb1204]

Please check your facts. AEMO and others are tightening the thumb screws on coal plants more and more. Replacing the rotation mass for frequency stability is another challenge.

[senectus1]

No outages like that here in Perth either.