New South Wales is under a third state of emergency over the severe fire conditions (AFP Photo/PETER PARKS) |
Sydney
(AFP) - Electricity supplies in Australia's most populous state, including its
largest city Sydney, were under threat on Saturday after bushfires took out two
substations with authorities warning of rolling blackouts if conditions worsen.
The blazes
have raged across New South Wales, and they brought down transmission lines in
the state's south connecting with neighbouring Victoria, state energy minister
Matt Kean tweeted.
Kean urged
people to reduce unnecessary electricity use and "turn off pool pumps,
lights in unoccupied rooms and avoid using washing machines and
dishwashers".
TransGrid
chief executive Paul Italiano said the system was coping but "under
stress".
He warned
the loss of another major power station could mean "load shedding"
power cuts to prevent the electricity grid from collapsing.
"It is
no longer operating as a single national electricity market and that has
compromised the availability of energy to New South Wales," Italiano told
national broadcaster ABC.
New South Wales,
which is under a third state of emergency over the severe fire conditions, has
a population of just under eight million, of whom around 65 percent live in the
greater Sydney region.
The fires
have claimed the lives of 17 people in the state and burnt some 3.6 million
hectares (36,000 square kilometres) -- an area larger than Belgium.
While
bushfires are common in Australia's arid summers, climate change has pushed up
land and sea temperatures and led to more extremely hot days and severe fire
seasons.
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