Any idea on what would cause this?


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-28/south-australia-without-power-live-blog/7885972


Best guess is either that several buss bars tripped out sending the system into voltage collapse or wind/lightning took out a dozen transmission lines.

It already has a wiki page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_South_Australian_blackout

Someone who I met during my training as an electrical worker, who now works in this area of Australia, as a HV transmission liney.
He sent me some really scary pictures of transmission pylons that had been bent over on themselves, due to the high winds.
These things may look small from a distance (like any line-gear), up close everything is massive.
We're talking 150mm (6") x 20mm (3/4") thick angle section being bent like it was tin-foil.
This was a severe weather event, that is all you can put that down to, no matter which way you slice it.

Reading up one it I agree Trumpy. I think the media was to quick to blame alternative energy when I know for a fact that when a system goes well beyond N-1 the generation does not matter one bit.