MYTH: Renewable energy made the South Australian blackouts worse
FACT: A severe storm resulted in catastrophic failure to power infrastructure
In 2016 a one-in-50 year weather event hit the state, with damaging winds exceeding 90km/h and 80,000 lightning strikes reported. This resulted in catastrophic failure to power infrastructure with 22 transmission towers fallen. As a standard safety response, the SA energy system was isolated from the National Electricity Market.