The Tasmanian Economic Regulator’s first Annual Energy Security Review has found Tasmania’s energy security is now strong enough to withstand an unlikely repeat of the Basslink outage of 2015/16.
In line with the recommendations of the Tasmanian Energy Security Taskforce, the Regulator (TER) now holds the role of energy security Monitor and Assessor.
As well as monthly dashboard reports, the TER will produce a detailed annual review of the previous year, and assessment of the upcoming year (released in November each year).
The inaugural TER report finds:
- Tasmanian available energy supply will be sufficient to meet demand over the coming 12 months
- Based on current inflow assumptions for Tasmanian hydro storages, on-island hydro and wind generation will be able to meet Tasmanian demand in the event of a temporary loss of TVPS generation or Basslink outage
- From 1 November 2016 to 1 November 2017, Hydro Tasmania’s storage level was permanently above both the High Reliability Level (HRL) and Prudent Storage Level (PSL)
- Hydro storages are currently about 17 per cent above the HRL. Based on the current energy in storage, and assuming average inflows to hydro storages, Tasmanian energy in storage should remain above the HRL level over the next 12 months
As of Monday 27 November 2017, Hydro Tasmania storages were at 44.9 per cent. The business will comfortably exceed its operating target of 40 per cent at the start of summer (1 December 2017) – a target which is higher than the approved PSL for that date.
