Chris Minns asks Sydney residents to keep washing machines off as heatwave nears peak

Soaring temperatures and strained power supplies have prompted the New South government to ask residents to reduce electricity use in a bid to avoid outages.

Chris Minns said Sydney residents should avoid using power-hungry devices if they can during a crunch period, which was expected to last for five hours.

“We are asking you not [to] run your dishwasher, not to run your washing machine this afternoon, between 3 and 8 [pm Aedt],” the premier said. “You’ll be helping the grid.”

“We’re hoping that these measures reduce the amount of demand on the energy system over that crucial … period, and as a result, won’t lead to load-shedding or blackouts,” he said, adding the government will keep the public updated.”

The energy market operator is also preparing to request some big users to cut loads if needed.

The heatwave toasting eastern Australia is forecast to peak on Wednesday, as temperatures again climb towards 40C in parts of Sydney.

By early afternoon, Sydney Airport was registering the hottest temperatures in Australia, reaching 38.2C. Penrith, in Sydney’s west, was close behind, at 37.7C – marking its fifth consecutive day of 35C-plus heat.

Sydney’s CBD was also predicted by the Bureau of Meteorology to be the hottest capital for the day, with a top of 34C forecast – or the warmest since the end of February. Its temperature reached almost 33C at about 11am, before sea breezes and cloud cover nudged the mercury down.

Regions expecting low to high 30s today also include the Hunter and Illawarra districts to Sydney’s north and south, respectively.

“Severe heatwave conditions are expected to peak on Wednesday, then ease by the weekend,” the bureau said in a warning alert. “Locations likely to be impacted include Batemans Bay, Camden, Campbelltown, Hornsby, Liverpool, Nowra, Penrith, Parramatta, Richmond and Wollongong.”

In line with recent days, the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) has been issuing alerts calling for more generation from electricity suppliers to ensure power is not interrupted.

On Wednesday morning, Aemo said a so-called level 3 lack of reserve (LOR3) condition was possible later in the day as solar output decreased towards sunset. By 4.30pm AEDT the market was likely to require 84 megawatts of additional supply to avoid interrupted load – or blackouts.

Aemo was also indicated that it was preparing to activate its so-called reliability and emergency reserve trader scheme later on Wednesday. If triggered, big energy users that have signed up to the scheme could be asked to cut power use in return for compensation.

LOR3 forecasts have been relatively rare for New South Wales until the past week, when the operator has issued a cluster of them only to cancel as generators responded.

About 6 gigawatts of coal-fired power station capacity remains unavailable, including about 3GW that was not previously scheduled. Many of Australia’s coal plants are nearing the end of their design lives, requiring more frequent and more costly repairs to keep operating.

Aemo has also issue LOR2 level alerts for NSW for Wednesday afternoon and for periods on Thursday and Friday as the heatwave slowly ebbs. Such alerts are calls for generators to provide extra capacity as a backup in case committed plants don’t operate as expected and drop off without warning.

As of mid-morning, Aemo was looking for about 750-800MW more power to be in reserve for periods stretching from 3pm to 8pm. Wholesale power prices may also spike to their ceiling of $17,500/megawatt-hour later on Wednesday, Aemo data indicates.

The weather setup, meanwhile, will favour thunderstorm activity over parts of eastern Australia including the prospect of heavy rainfall as tropical moisture is dragged southwards.

Victoria faces high winds, particularly in the state’s north-east, the bureau said.

The bureau also noted NSW health advice that severe heatwaves “can be dangerous for many people, especially older people, babies, children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, people with medical conditions and people who are unwell”.

“Seek a place to keep cool, such as your home, a library, community centre or shopping centre,” it said, adding residents should draw blinds and curtains and close window early in the day to keep heat out of homes.