Australia’s energy woes are being exacerbated by coal-fired generator outages. 

AGL Energy Limited has confirmed its Loy Yang A unit 2 in Victoria's Latrobe Valley, which went offline in April, will not be fixed until “the second half of September”.

The company said “global supply chain issues and the availability of specialised materials” are behind the outage extension.

Loy Yang A has been described as “the most unreliable power station in the entire grid”.

AGL says the unit initially broke down after an electrical fault in the generator, but the generator rotor has now failed, which will extend the repair time by at least two months.

It means that around a quarter of Australia’s coal-fired power capacity is currently offline, including half of AGL’s coal-fired units in Victoria and New South Wales.

AGL says two units at its Bayswater plant in the New South Wales Hunter Valley have been taken offline to fix issues, while another is out due to scheduled extended maintenance.

The Federal Government last week convened a meeting of state and federal energy ministers to discuss the issue.

They came up with a new plan that should safeguard the system while also giving the market operator more responsibility for supply.

The ministers agreed to move ahead with a capacity mechanism, which will require the energy retailers to pay power providers to maintain extra capacity in case it is needed.

Additionally, more responsibility for supply will be given to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), which will be given the power to procure and store gas for future shortages.