In correction to the letter by Dr Anne Stuart (November 6): the situation around the long-lasting power failure in Broken Hill was, in my opinion, solely down to incompetence of the grid-regulating authorities! Contrary to D. Stuart’s claim, Broken Hill actually has a large solar farm and a battery bank to store and supply electricity to the power grid.
But, and get the full extent of this idiocy!, this battery was disabled from ‘islanding’ capabilities, meaning supplying the ‘island’ of Broken Hill! All it could do at the time was to supply electricity into the national grid, something that was interrupted due to the downed lines near Broken Hill.
Why was the battery switched so that it couldn’t supply much-needed electricity to Broken Hill? Because it wasn’t supposed to compete with a second electricity storage planned for Broken Hill, some sort of compressed air storage. But this second facility hasn’t progressed beyond a planning approval as of now. More detail under tinyurl.com/transgrid.
It makes one wonder who is responsible for such far-reaching decisions in this country. Are those people actually qualified?
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
