Villain no 6d – Diversity is not a magic wand
A few quick words, about the challenges inherent in assessing the benefits of diversity too superficially. It clearly does have some benefits, but it's not a Magic Wand.
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‘Maximising Value in the NEM’, with a particular focus on Large Solar Farms
On Thursday 21st May, Marcelle Gannon and Jonathon Dyson jointly shared a large number of insights and tips to help those interested in developing and/or operating Large Solar...
Recent trends in spot price distribution in QLD
In a sneak preview from the "Maximising Value in the NEM" webinar this Thursday, Marcelle looks at the changing distribution of spot prices in QLD.
Reasonably widespread deviations delivers highest ‘aggregate Raw Off-Target’ for the 2019 year for ‘all Wind’
This is the 3rd of 4 Case Studies to follow on from the main article (summarising results across 105,120 dispatch intervals through 2019 for ‘all Coal’ and ‘all...
Can batteries replace ‘cap’ contracts to hedge customer load? A case study from Q1 2020
Guest author, Andrew Wilson, presents a case study of the performance and results from the University of Queensland's 1.1MW Tesla Powerpack system during Q1 2020.
Case Study about Non-Conformance with Yarranlea Solar Farm on Friday 1st May 2020
Following on from the article posted on the day, here's a focused look at what can be seen in ('next day' public) data for Yarranlea Solar Farm on...
Stanwell unit operation on 12th October 2019 delivers most negative ‘aggregate Raw Off-Target’ for the 2019 year for ‘all Coal’
This is the 2nd of 4 Case Studies to follow on from Tuesday’s main article (summarising results across 105,120 dispatch intervals through 2019 for ‘all Coal’ and ‘all...
Kogan Creek trip on 9th October 2019 delivers highest ‘aggregate Raw Off-Target’ for the 2019 year for ‘all Coal’
Following on from Tuesday's main article (summarising results across 105,120 dispatch intervals through 2019 for 'all Coal' and 'all Wind' groupings), this is the first of 4 x...
Balancing Supply and Demand …. in the fast approaching ‘NEM 2.0’ world
Recent invitations (from COAG Energy Council and AEMO) prompt some further analysis of the data set assembled for the GSD2019 in order to understand more about one of...
Quarterly Renewables Wrap – Q1 2020
Ben Willacy of ITK Services provides his quarterly update on renewable project connection, commissioning, construction and commitment activity for Q1 2020.
Aggregate wind production peaked above 5,000MW for the first time (NEM-wide) – on Friday 1st May 2020
Quick notes about a new peak in wind farm output across the NEM that occurred on Friday evening last week (1st May 2020).
Spot prices plunge in QLD, and may well remain underwater for the coming week
Three main factors contributed to the spot prices in Queensland dropping underwater today for a number of hours - with some factors suggesting this might be the pattern...
AEMO releases its first* ‘Renewable Integration Study’ on 30th April 2020
An article today providing links to the 'Renewable Integration Study' which the AEMO released today, and also to the headline media coverage I have seen on my quick...
Two papers released by COAG Energy Council are early stages in fleshing out ‘NEM 2.0’
Some brief initial thoughts, following the release of two discussion papers by the COAG Energy Council - the first on two-sided markets, and the second seeming to cover...
Observing Easter Saturday, a little belatedly
Guest author, Allan O'Neil, invests some time to explore a number of different aspects of Easter Saturday (11th April 2020), each noteworthy in their own right (including low...
Careful with the ‘doomsday claims’ that COVID responses have (or will) massively reduced aggregate underlying electricity consumption in the NEM….
… because the evidence currently suggests that this is just not the case (in this article I explore and explain further)
Four units trip in Victoria on Easter Saturday
A quick look at Saturday 11th April (Easter Saturday) where there were major reductions in output at 4 units across Victoria - 3 coal units in the Latrobe...
Do you know the difference between Virtual Inertia and Fast Frequency Response?
Our guest author Stephen Sproul looks at how the Dalrymple Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), currently the only source of virtual inertia on the NEM, responded to the...
Semi-scheduled Generation Availability Forecasts–how to improve?
In her first article for WattClarity, Marcelle looks at questions raised in the recent summer on the forecasting of performance at high temperatures of wind and solar generators,...
Electricity demand as a Performance Metric, in the age of coronavirus
This started as a consideration of how applicable 'change of electricity demand' is as a general metric for communicating the impact of coronavirus (and measures taken to address...