Australia has “too much energy”

While Brits are worrying about an electricity crunch, our friends Down Under are experiencing the opposite. Australia has such a large “oversupply” of electricity that no new large thermal power […]

While Brits are worrying about an electricity crunch, our friends Down Under are experiencing the opposite.

Australia has such a large “oversupply” of electricity that no new large thermal power stations will be needed for a decade, it was revealed today.

The report from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) said it is the first time in the history of its National Electricity Market (NEM) this has happened.

Matt Zema, AEMO Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer said: “More than 7,500 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity would need to be removed from the market to affect supply adequacy in 2014-15.”

Most of this extra power (around 90%) is in three regions, New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.

Even if power use goes up by 2023-24, more than 4,500 MW of generation capacity could still be withdrawn without affecting Australian supplies, said the AEMO.

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