For two remarkable winter evenings in 2007 (19th and 20th June specifically) NEM-Wide Instantaneous Reserve Plant Margin (IRPM) plunged to the lowest levels ever seen in the NEM (a mere 7.6%) as generators were caught short of capacity by a cold snap that hit earlier than expected, whilst plant was still out for maintenance and other plant still suffering from drought-inflicted limitations of capability.
Paul was one of the founders of Global-Roam in February 2000. He is currently the CEO of the company and the principal author of WattClarity. Writing for WattClarity has become a natural extension of his work in understanding the electricity market, enabling him to lead the team in developing better software for clients.
Before co-founding the company, Paul worked as a Mechanical Engineer for the Queensland Electricity Commission in the early 1990s. He also gained international experience in Japan, the United States, Canada, the UK, and Argentina as part of his ES Cornwall Memorial Scholarship.
Was speaking with someone this morning about the expectation that there would be price volatility this evening, and the market obliged. It’s only just started, but here’s the second spike (at 17:40) captured in a snapshot from NEMwatch v10: Here’s…
A short examination of some of the over-arching factors at play yesterday evening – where prices spiked above $3,000/MWh in all five regions simultaneously.
Today (Wednesday 24th July) we note how the Queensland lunchtime electricity demand is stuck in the blue zone – the uptake of solar PV, and a sunny day for Clean Energy Week, would be part of the reason.
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