Victoria blackout: Vic power system battling heat suffers major outage

“This appears to be a multi-contingency market event with two major 500 kilovolt transmission lines tripping between Moorabool and Sydenham,” said Josh Stabler, managing director at adviser Energy Edge.

“With no transmission access to market, AGL’s Loy Yang A site has tripped offline.”

Mr Stabler said another 1000 megawatts of electricity customer load had tripped “to maintain security”, probably an automatic response as generation came offline.

“Both the transmission network and the coal power stations will take time to return to service, which puts the evening peak under threat,” he said.

AGL confirmed all four units at Loy Yang A were offline.

The crisis comes just weeks after electricity demand on Victoria’s grid hit a record low due to abundant generation from rooftop solar systems and subdued holiday demand.