Recently, when the MP for Broken Hill said ‘…we’ve failed… in planning and resilience for power in the far west,’ he made an understatement, given that 12,000 properties were without power for – at last check – a week.
The promises by the NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe to ‘bring everything on to get [the residents] up as soon as we can’, turned out to be one poorly-maintained generator that failed and several diesel generators trucked in from Sydney. Is this a masterclass in reducing emissions and ignoring extreme weather? Does the sun shine in Broken Hill? Would a large battery energy storage system from soaked-up sun be a future solution?
But future planning is not what humans do. We compensate for busted things. So, account holders in Broken Hill who lost power will be paid $200, and small businesses $400. Another masterclass in costly failed forward thinking.
Then we have IPART investigating whether Transgrid breached its reliability standards. Past tense. What help is a tribunal to residents when they have no power or are waiting for transmission lines to be restored?
And in the future? Let’s not compensate or investigate. Let’s initiate. Future tense. A community battery is a ‘power-full’ backup – security for businesses and residents.
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. 
