South Australian blackout blamed on thermal and wind generator failures, plus high demand

Australian Energy Market Operator report says demand was higher than forecast, wind generation lower and thermal generators unable to step in

A blackout in South Australia that has intensified a political brawl over energy policy was caused by three factors: demand for power was higher than forecast, wind generation was lower than forecast and several thermal generators were unable to step into the breach, according to the energy market operator.

As the partisan conflict about energy continued in Canberra on Wednesday, the Australian Energy Market Operator issued a report detailing the sequence that led to the blackout in South Australia last week - the third such outage in recent months.