On 22 December 2020, the Federal Court ordered that Snowtown Wind Farm Stage 2 Pty Ltd (Snowtown 2) had breached the National Electricity Rules (NER) by failing to obtain written approval for critical system settings in its wind farm from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and network service provider ElectraNet.
The Federal Court found that Snowtown 2 contravened clauses 4.4.3 and S5.2.2 of the NER between 10 September 2013 and 10 October 2016 by operating the generating units of the Snowtown South and Snowtown Stage 2 North wind farms and allowing those generating units to supply electricity to the power system when the settings for the repeat low voltage ride-through protection system applied to them had not been approved in writing by the network service provider or the AEMO.
The Court ordered by consent that Snowtown 2 pay a civil penalty of $1 million, implement a compliance program and contribute to the AER’s legal costs.