Joanna Panagopououlos

Oct 27, 2024 | joannenova.com.au | Jo Nova |Joanna Panagopououlos |Alexi Demetriadi

By Jo NovaThe lights went out in Broken Hill. A storm blew over seven transmission towers connecting it to the national grid on October 17th. About 19,000 people live there, and with a 200MW wind plant, a 53MW solar array and a big battery, plus diesel generators it was assumed they’d be OK for a while without the connection to the big baseload plants, but instead it’s been a debacle. They’ve had nearly a week of blackouts with intermittent bursts of power, barely long enough to charge the phone.