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.

Related Links
Forest and Wild Fires - News, Science and Technology

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Australia orders mass evacuation of fire-ravaged towns before heatwave
Sydney (AFP) Jan 1, 2020
Thousands of tourists have been given less than 48 hours to evacuate fire-ravaged coastal communities as Australia braces for a heatwave Saturday expected to fan deadly bushfires. Catastrophic blazes ripped through swathes of the continent's south-east on New Year's Eve, killing at least eight people and stranding holidaymakers as seaside towns were ringed by flames. The New South Wales (NSW) Rural Fire Service on Thursday morning declared a "tourist leave zone" stretching about 200 kilometres ( ... read more