The Reliability Panel has published its final determination for the Review of the System Restart Standard, including a revised Standard and recommendations for future work to enhance system restart preparedness as the power system transforms.
The review has considered the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) reports of growing challenges in securing adequate System Restart Ancillary Services (SRAS), which play a vital role in helping to re-energise the power system in the unlikely event of a major supply disruption or ‘black system event’.
Chair of the Reliability Panel, Rainer Korte, said that the revised Standard and recommendations will support AEMO in procuring the SRAS needed to prepare for and respond effectively to a major disruption, ensuring a more secure power supply for consumers.
"These are important updates to the framework that guide how much and what kinds of System Restart Ancillary Services are needed, and how they can best be coordinated to meet the changing needs of the electricity system," Mr Korte said.
"While major power disruptions, or black system events, are rare and can be triggered by a combination of factors impacting supply, demand and transmission of electricity, when one occurs, it can unfortunately have significant impacts for communities."
"That's why, in addition to revising the System Restart Standard, we have also made recommendations for critical future work to support the resilience of the electricity system as coal generation units come to the end of their life and are replaced by renewable generation, batteries and other resources."
The Panel's final changes and recommendations have been informed by advice from AEMO and stakeholder feedback.
They also consider economic analysis, which found that there is significant value in investing in new system restoration capability for the national electricity market (NEM) to protect against a prolonged disruption to electricity supply.
The final Standard:
- provides AEMO with increased flexibility around how it plans for the initiation of system restart, allowing AEMO to consider new approaches and respond to new challenges to initiate restoration
- supports the procurement of additional services to provide a higher level of aggregate reliability of SRAS, and to allow AEMO to address operational challenges deeper into the restoration process
- clarifies how AEMO takes into consideration the strategic location of SRAS for each electrical subnetwork and any sensitive loads – such as aluminium smelters – that may be impacted by decreases in power supply.
The revised Standard will take effect from 1 July 2027 and will guide AEMO's next round of SRAS procurement, expected to commence in 2026.
The Panel intends to submit a Rule change request to the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) to strengthen the system restart regulatory framework, enabling greater transparency and reporting on system restoration modelling and planning, as well as enhancing system restart testing arrangements.
The Panel also makes recommendations for AEMO to improve system restart preparedness by:
- conducting future-focused modelling and planning to identify system restart needs further in advance, and leverage the existing system restart framework to procure SRAS to meet future system restart needs
- reviewing and updating its guidelines for preparing Local Black System Procedures, to improve the quality of information made available to AEMO that is used to support AEMO's development of jurisdictional black system plans.
About black system events
Black system events are rare.
The NEM last experienced a black system event in South Australia in September 2016, when storm damage led to a state-wide blackout that lasted approximately 8 hours.
Prior to that, an event occurred in northern Queensland in 2009, and one in New South Wales in 1964.
In April this year, Spain and Portugal experienced a black system event, that disrupted electricity supply to more than 50 million customers for around 16 hours.