I had been wondering whether we might experience something like this…
What’s shown above is the snapshot of the 18:05 dispatch interval using one of our permanently running NEMwatch v10 dashboards operating around our offices. We can see the SA dispatch price up at the Market Price Cap (currently $15,000/MWh), at only 1651MW of Scheduled Demand (very much in the ‘green zone’)
What’s happening is interesting in its own right (and a little hairy for the AEMO operations people grappling with a fast-evolving situation) … but it also does pose an interesting real-time reminder of some other broader questions posed by the announcement this week that Yallourn would close in 2028, earlier than expected (and the absolute inundation of media coverage that followed!)
More to come…
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PS added later
Here’s a quick tabulation of the coverage of this event on Wattclarity:
| Part within this Case Study |
Context |
| Part 1
Fri 12th March 2021 |
This short article here was added early in the evening, to communicate early about the dramas unfolding |
| Part 2
Sat 13th March 2021 |
This longer article was written through the evening and published early Saturday morning (as Part 2) – being a focus on what was visible in the heat of the moment, and without access to Private Data (or a cooler head). |
| Part 3
Sat 13th March 2021 |
This shorter article published at the end of the day, outlining how the events of Friday in South Australia prompted thoughts about the future of the Victorian region, following the closure of Yallourn. |
| Part 4
Monday 15th March 2021 |
Guest author, Allan O’Neil, contributed this ‘Down 55% – but not out’ article that covered a number of different aspects of what went on on this eventful evening … both top-down and bottom-up. |
| Part 5
Friday 19th March 2021 |
AEMO published their ‘Preliminary Incident Report – Trip of Torrens Island A and B West 275 kV busbars on 12 March 2021’ this afternoon. |
| Part 6
More to come? |
Perhaps there will be more, as there are still a few questions we are puzzled about…. |
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was a transformer fire at Torrens island power station