Might get close to a new all-time record for wind production late this weekend?

It’s probably news to noone that Australia’s a continent of two halves at present, dominated by a high pressure system in the north and a low pressure system off the southern coast – leading to:

Half #1)  baking winter* heat in the north; and

* yeah, right, ‘winter’ in name only!

Half #2)  wild winds in the south.

 

So it’s not really a surprise to see that Ben Domensino wrote about ‘Five more days of damaging winds for southern Australia’ on Weatherzone yesterday:

2024-08-29-at-15-38-Weatherzone

 

I wondered what this might mean for aggregate wind yields over the coming days, so firstly jumped to this pre-prepared trend from ez2view looking at:

1)  actual wind production levels (backwards in time); and

2)  AEMO’s UIGF (forwards in time … noting that this is a forecast capability, and that the output might be moderated by VRE curtailment for economic or network reasons)

 

2024-08-30-at-08-53-ez2view-Trend-NEMwide-WindProduction

Highlighted on this chart are:

1)  A period early morning on Monday 26th August 2024 when aggregate wind yield

… noting that Grid Demand is diurnally low at that point

2)  Forecast peak in wind capability above 8,000MW over the weekend:

(a)  Just above 8,000MW briefly in the early hours of Saturday 31st August 2024; and

(b)  Slightly higher in the early hours of Monday 2nd September 2024.

(c)  Both of which might go close to the all-time record set on Thursday 30th May 2024.

 

Wanting to see more dimensions to this query, we shift to the ‘Forecast Convergence’ widget in ez2view and flip to NEM-wide UIGF for Wind:

2024-08-30-at-09-05-ez2view-ForecastConvergence-NEM-Wind

‘Looking up the verticals’  highlighted to ‘see that other dimension of time’ we see that the forecast wind capability has been growing over AEMO’s successive forecasts … so definitely hold onto your hats this weekend!


About the Author

Paul McArdle
One of three founders of Global-Roam back in 2000, Paul has been CEO of the company since that time. As an author on WattClarity, Paul's focus has been to help make the electricity market more understandable.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*