South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has defended the state's heavy use of renewable energy amid claims it was warned years ago of the potential for power grid instability.
Mr Weatherill says solar and wind power have not caused blackouts in SA as reports from 2009 emerged which advised the government about how to best handle the integration of renewables.
He said the government had been considering the need for an appropriate mix of energy in the years since those reports were prepared.
And while SA was facing a grid security issue, renewable energy was not to blame.
"We've had eight years of experience and all evidence (is) to the contrary. There have been no blackouts through renewable energy," Mr Weatherill told reporters on Monday.
Independent Senator Nick Xenophon said the reports, prepared for the Department of Premier and Cabinet, raised questions about SA's current energy woes and whether they could have been avoided if the state government had better followed advice.
Provided to a Senate inquiry, the reports warned that relying on wind power for more than 20 per cent of state's electricity needs risked destabilising the power grid.
They said growing wind generation needed to be accompanied by other energy initiatives, such as increased interconnection, more voltage control and battery storage.
"The question is a reasonable one. If we listened to these reports back in 2009, would we have had these problems, this crisis, in the first place?" Senator Xenophon said on ABC radio on Monday.
The quest for grid stability came as the SA government began spruiking its $550 million energy plan with a $500,000 advertising campaign to run over the next month.
Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said it was important for the government to tell people about its strategy to ensure the state becomes self-sufficient in providing for its electricity needs.
But the state opposition said the campaign was designed to cover up the role the government had played in the state's power challenges.
"Jay Weatherill's energy policy failures have cost South Australians dearly and now he is making us fund an advertising campaign designed to cover-up his culpability," deputy opposition leader Vickie Chapman said in a statement.
The plan includes the construction of a new gas-fired power station and the development of Australia's largest battery to better store and distribute renewable energy.
