Keeping the lights on

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By Dwain Duxson - An Ag Enthusiast

Keeping the lights on - We wrote a story in The Farmers Club on Friday about how Broken Hill and other areas in Western NSW have been going through their nightmare blackout. Take a read of the article here. We got plenty of replies, and there is a lot of anger in the community about what is happening.

This one can't be attributed to the renewable energy push because it happened when a few towers blew down in a storm a week or so ago. What I do find confusing is that there is renewable power locally (solar and wind), but for some reason, they can't tap into it.

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But what this is all teaching us is that we can't rely on some of the things we used to take for granted. We have to take matters into our own hands. Probably every business, and perhaps household, should be investing in a back-up source of power. Generators (petrol or diesel) come in all shapes and sizes, and it would be good to know what size you need to keep the lights on, so to speak.

We are entering a time when our power sources are becoming less reliable, and we need to start adding in our worst-case scenario or how long we could operate without power. It's cost some of these Western NSW businesses $30,000 in a week, and it closed down the mine. Do you have a Generator back-up for your business? Have you been affected by the Western NSW blackout? Reply to dwaind@farmtender.com.au

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