The wind and renewables sector are not to blame for the surge in electricity prices and potential shutdowns of South Australia’s biggest employers, the Australian Wind Alliance says.

Australian Wind Alliance spokesperson Charlie Prell said that South Australia’s recent wild storms and the associated delay in upgrade work on the interconnector are being used to attack the wind and renewables sector.

Charlie says that the real problem, as identified by Minister Koutsantonis, is that companies have not planned any contingency strategies, such as forward hedging contracts, to cover the period of the upgrade of the interconnector.

“Twelve months advance notice of this work was widely advertised. If these companies are large users of electricity then they should have these strategies in place,” Charlie says. 

“Companies that are large users of electricity should be negotiating long-term fixed price contracts for their business. This is the solution to this problem, not blaming wind and solar.

“With battery storage developing rapidly, a dramatic improvement to energy security will become reality. Because they are leading the world in building renewable infrastructure, South Australia are in a great position to take advantage of this battery innovation.”

“Wind turbines are not responsible for the surge in electricity prices in South Australia, transmission and infrastructure costs are,” says Charlie, who predicts price volatility will be very unlikely to flow through to domestic consumers.