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Politics / South Australia

SA's statewide blackout was 10 years ago — but electricity debate is still live

1 min read Rewritten in plain language

Energy PolicyEnergy MarketsElectricity Production and DistributionRenewable EnergyWind Energy

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  • Blackouts come in different forms — there are those that affect memory, and those that affect electricity.
  • About 4pm on September 28, 2016, electricity supply to more than 850,000 properties and about 1.7 million residents was disrupted.
  • In the same moment that Mr Koutsantonis heard parliament's doors start to glitch, energy industry analyst Danny Price was on his computer monitoring the situation closely.
  • At Flinders Medical Centre, there were distressing consequences for prospective parents when dozens of embryos were lost at a private fertility clinic because mains supply was cut.
  • Mr Price also pointed to the weather — but said there was a failure of preparation at market level ahead of a "one-in-50-year storm".

5 sentences from our version of the report, chosen to cover it. Nothing here is written; every line is in the article below. How

About 4pm on September 28, 2016, electricity supply to more than 850,000 properties and about 1.7 million residents was disrupted.

The report’s most important sentence, shortened and in plain words. How

Headline check

The one thing this headline claims is in the report.

Figures, names and quoted words in the headline, looked for in the report itself — not in the summary above. One claim in this headline could be checked, so this is a narrow pass and not a thorough one. How this is checked

Blackouts come in different forms — there are those that affect memory, and those that affect electricity.

Reflecting on the precise moment when the statewide blackout began, the Labor MP smiled wryly at the irony of the circumstances in which he found himself at the time.

About 4pm on September 28, 2016, electricity supply to more than 850,000 properties and about 1.7 million residents was disrupted.

Mr Koutsantonis was then the state's minister for energy — a portfolio which, despite changes of government in the intervening years, he holds again today.

In the same moment that Mr Koutsantonis heard parliament's doors start to glitch, energy industry analyst Danny Price was on his computer monitoring the situation closely.

An early estimate of the economic impact concluded that the blackout cost businesses more than $360 million — but money wasn't everything.

At Flinders Medical Centre, there were distressing consequences for prospective parents when dozens of embryos were lost at a private fertility clinic because mains supply was cut.

In a 2017 report, the Australian Energy Market Operator concluded that overly sensitive protection mechanisms in some of the state's wind farms were to blame.

AEMO found that the sudden dip in output preceded a power surge along the Heywood Interconnector from Victoria, which in turn caused the system to trip and SA to become "islanded" from the rest of the NEM.

Mr Price also pointed to the weather — but said there was a failure of preparation at market level ahead of a "one-in-50-year storm".

Shortened to 1 minute of reading, this version reads 10.2 on the Niral Score.

You are reading our version, not theirs. This is ABC News (Business)'s report shortened to its most important sentences, in plainer words, with verdicts and loaded words taken out. Plain description stays, and so do adjectives that carry a fact, such as "former" or "federal". The reporting, the facts and the quotations are theirs — quotations are never edited — and the indicators beside it measure this version. Hover or tap Adjectives to see every one left in the text.

How this outlet filed it, and how we rewrote it

No other newsroom we read has filed on this event, so there is nothing to compare it with yet.

Outlet Niral ScoreAdjectivesSourcingSentimentHappiness
ABC News (Business)as they published this story 15.4 21 70 -0.3 30.9
Mundane Readneutralized from ABC News (Business) 14.1 21 70 -0.3 30.9

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