Villain #6–reaching for (or believing in) a “Magic Wand”
We've noted what seems to be an increasing tendency of all of us to reach for some form of "magic wand" as a cure-all for the vexed challenges...
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What’s the impact of rooftop solar PV on local distribution network voltage–and its significance?
Replacement of yet another blown LED at home on the weekend prompted me to dive into some historical voltage readings (made accessible through our Solar Analytics subscription). I...
Hot weather in Queensland to drive Electricity Demand high this week (and warning of LOR2 Low Reserve Condition)
Temperature forecasts are for hot weather in Queensland early this week - which means AEMO is forecasting high demand in the QLD region. With this, they are alerting...
Too much solar? For whom exactly?
Recently there have been a number of media reports of energy industry people talking about too much solar. One of our guest authors takes a look.
How To Reduce Electricity Costs – Part 3
In our guest author's third article, Michael Williams comments on the growing trend for corporate energy buyers to contract directly with certain wind and/or solar plant for renewable...
We’re preparing an extensive “Generator Report Card”, and would welcome discussion (with your pre-orders)
Following from (what we have seen as) an increase in diversity of concerns (and claims) about different aspects of generator performance, we're leveraging our extensive data set and...
Scheduled Demand in South Australia drops to 536MW, an all-time* record minimum in the afternoon of Sunday 21st October 2018
Based on a tip from a savvy WattClarity reader, we have a quick look at what turned out to be the lowest-ever (normal) instance of Scheduled Demand on...
Retail Energy, not so easy
It is curious that despite of the findings of the recent ACCC enquiries and the on-going regulatory uncertainty (at both a state and federal level), anyone would be...
Villain #5 – not focusing on the real problems
Fifteen months after first speaking at Clean Energy Summit about the train wreck that's ongoing in terms of our mismanaged energy transition (and coincident with another industry gathering...
How To Reduce Electricity Costs – Part 2
In the previous article on reducing electricity costs we looked at energy efficiency and the fact that the cheapest electricity is the electricity that you don’t consume. In...
How To Reduce Electricity Costs – Part 1
We all know that electricity prices have escalated dramatically over the last couple of years. But did you know that it is possible to offset these increases and...
Lessons from the trenches – 10 tips for new entrant generation developers
Through our consulting business, Greenview Strategic Consulting, we have had the pleasure of working with a variety of new entrants and NEM-veteran organisations alike in the generation sector...
WattClarity gets revamped with new content and other enhancements to provide more value to our readers
WattClarity.com.au has a fresh look and new content, online resources and other enhancements
A case study in Active Management at a Semi-Scheduled plant – Tuesday 24th July 2018 at Lake Bonney 2 Wind Farm
A detailed look at two specific trading periods in the day (Tuesday 24th July 2018) that saw negative dispatch prices occur at the start of trading periods -...
Further analysis of the (very rare) double-islanding events of Saturday 25th August 2018
The multi-region islanding event on Saturday 25th August was a very rare event - perhaps the only one's that occurred in the history of the NEM. It has...
My recent presentation: “Power system control or market control of a power system”
Guest presenter, Kate Summers, spoke at UoM Climate and Energy College on 15th August 2018, with the presentation recorded. Kate shares this today with WattClarity readers.
Taking a look at Saturday’s Islanding Event through 4 second SCADA data
Following on from Saturday's islanding event, we use our current interest in AEMO's 4-second SCADA data to prove a little more...
Both QLD and SA islanded from the rest of the NEM on Saturday 25th August 2018
Both the QNI and the Heywood interconnectors tripped around the same time on Saturday 25th August 2018 (not apparent at this time which one was first, and why),...
Confirmation of yesterday’s supposition that some wind farms are blinking in the face of negative prices
A brief follow on from yesterday's post, with the advantage of being able to review yesterday's bids (and rebids) today.
The “Wind Correlation Penalty” bites in South Australia, and some wind farmers appear to blink
The past week, with wind farm output blowing gangbusters in South Australia (coupled with low demand and System Strength requirements) we seen the "Wind Correlation Penalty" start to...