SA blackout a 'wake-up call', Frydenberg claims ahead of COAG meeting

An independent review of the state-wide blackout in South Australia is expected to be one of the outcomes of Friday's emergency meeting between state, territory and Commonwealth energy ministers.

The energy minister has stepped back from linking SA's renewable energy program to the state's power failure. Source: AAP

Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg made an assurance that the stability and security of the national electricity market will by addressed at an emergency COAG meeting on Friday, held in response to the unprecedented blackout in South Australia last week.  

"The blackout in South Australia was a wake-up call," Mr Frydenberg said. 

"We have an obligation as energy ministers from states, from territories and from the Commonwealth to work together, to find a common ground and to deliver a collective response which insures that we have a stable electricity system."  

The decision to hold a review came after a two-hour, minister only meeting, in Melbourne this morning.

"It was a very productive and a very constructive airing of views, and a discussion of where we can find common ground," Mr Frydenberg said.   

He said the review would be "independent" with the aim to provide a blueprint of energy security across the national electricity market. 

The meeting will focus on South Australia with ministers to hear a range of opinions from experts.

The Australian Energy Market Operator, Australian Energy Market Commission, the Australian Energy Regulator and the CSIRO will also be in attendance.  

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has questioned the ambitious and aggressive renewable energy targets of South Australia and others.

"Was that over reliance on intermittent renewables, did that cause an over reliance on baseload power generation in Victoria and on those interconnectors?" Mr Turnbull said on radio this morning. 

"I don't want to be overly political about this but this has very much been a Labor obsession to set these heroic renewable energy targets." 

Queensland's Energy and Water Minister Mark Bailey has accused the Turnbull Government of leaving the "heavy lifting" on tackling climate change to the states and territories.

"Their policy is to do nothing after 2020. That is entirely inconsistent with our commitment with the Paris Agreement and in terms of acting on climate change," Mr Bailey told ABC radio. 

"The reason the states are doing the heavy lifting here, up to 2030, is because the Federal Government has basically vacated the space."