For over 3½ years, STT has been warning about the pending social and economic disaster in Australia’s so-called “wind power capital”, South Australia.

A few weeks back we covered yet another crippling 12% hike in retail power prices, to be suffered by cash-strapped South Australian households; those who, of course, aren’t among the tens of thousands that have already been cut from the grid, unable to pay their escalating bills.

In the meantime, South Australia’s largest employers – energy hungry outfits like Nyrstar’s lead and zinc smelter at Port Pirie; Arrium’s steelworks at Whyalla; BHP Billiton’s giant Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine; and Adelaide Brighton Cement at Port Adelaide – are being belted by spot prices starting at over $1,000 per MWh and which frequently hit the market price cap of $13,800 per MWh.  Those figures compare with prices received by scheduled, base-load generators of between $45-70 per MWh.