As a PS to the note earlier today, here’s a final snapshot from NEM-Watch capturing the moment when demand peaked for the day, across the NEM and in Victoria.
It was the 16:05 dispatch interval (so 17:05 Melbourne daylight savings time) when the Victorian Scheduled Demand reached 10,072MW – and the NEM-wide demand climbed to 31,891MW (ensuring that many of the bids for what the peak demand would be this summer from our BBQ-hungry readers are already out of the money):
The snapshots illustrates that Victoria is firmly in the red zone (driven by the extreme temperatures), with Scheduled Demand being just 224MW short of the all-time record – when measured on a dispatch target basis.
The yellow warning on the VIC+SA “Economic Island” highlights how there’s a relatively tight supply/demand balance (a 12% Instantaneous Reserve Plant Margin) – so one of the reasons for the increased prices.
Any chance of calling the summer over today, I think I’m sitting pretty for the BBQ. Probably not much chance of the demand being lower tomorrow!
Chris
The various emergency departments in southern Australia would probably also wish that the heatwave, at least, would be over.
I see the predispatch forecast is for over 33,000MW today – which would make it, I think, the highest the demand has been since this hot week in February 2011, nearly 3 years ago.
Maybe we should allow another round of entries, for a consolation, consolation prize?!
Paul