Australia's power market operator tapped emergency power reserves on Friday to keep air conditioners on in the state of Victoria, as temperatures soared to six-year highs above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
Officials in Victoria urged households to hold off turning on dishwashers, washing machines and pool pumps to help ease power demand in the evening as people returned home from work and cranked up their air conditioners.
"It just gives us a greater buffer," said Lisa Neville, Victoria's minister for police and emergency services.
Wholesale power prices briefly soared to the market cap of A$14,700 per megawatt hour (MWh) in Victoria and topped A$13,000 in the most populous state of New South Wales late afternoon as demand jumped and supply was strained. Prices later dropped to around A$100 in Victoria and A$90 in NSW.
The Australian Energy Market Operator, which manages electricity and gas markets, said it had dispatched reserve power after one of two transmission lines between the states of South Australia and Victoria tripped, limiting electricity flows between the two states.
"AEMO is dispatching emergency reserves in Victoria and reiterates the need for Victorians to reduce their energy usage where safe to do so until 9pm (1000 GMT), to help minimise the potential for electricity supply disruptions this afternoon," AEMO said in a statement.
The transmission outage cut power to both potlines at Alcoa Corp's <AA.N> Portland aluminium smelter in Victoria, the company said, without giving further detail on the impact.
Under the emergency reserve system, the market operator can tap power supply not normally available in the market and call on big power users to reduce their energy use for a fee to help prevent blackouts.
(Reporting by Sonali Paul; editing by Jane Wardell)
