On the afternoon of 28 September 2016, South Australia experienced a state-wide blackout, known as a Black System Event. In December 2018, the AER published a Compliance Report, reviewing compliance by various National Electricity Market (NEM) participants against the National Electricity Rules (the Rules) regarding the operation of the South Australia region of the NEM in the pre-event, system restoration and market suspension periods. As part of this report, the AER determined there were a number of issues relating to the regulatory framework for System Restart Ancillary Services (SRAS) and recommended submitting a rule change request to the AEMC to address these issues.
AER rule change request
On 6 September 2019 the AER submitted a rule change request to the AEMC addressing three key issues:
- Expanding the role of Network Service Providers (NSPs) in the SRAS process
- Mandating the comparison of the testing procedure with the procedure to be used in response to a major supply disruption, and
- Expanding the communication protocols to be used by all parties when planning, testing, and enacting a response to a major supply disruption.
AER rule change request on system restart ancillary services – 6 September 2019
Consultation paper
The AEMC consolidated the AER’s request with a rule change proposal submitted by AEMO on 29 July 2019 which proposes to expand the technologies able to provide SRAS, modifying the procedure for procuring SRAS, and expanding the testing of SRAS.
On 19 September 2019 the AEMC published a consultation paper seeking stakeholders’ views on the proposed changes to the SRAS framework.
The AER provided a submission to this consultation paper on 11 October 2019.
AER Submission to AEMC - System restart services (consultation paper) - 11 October 2019
More information
More information on System restart services, standards and testing.