Watt scarcity?
Guest author Allan O’Neil examines some recent episodes of price volatility (particularly 30th July to 5th August 2024) and whether they were driven by a shortage of supply, or other factors.
Read MoreAreas of deeper analysis
With the benefit of hindsight – or who’d be an auto-bidder?
Following on from earlier articles about price volatility on Tue 30th July 2024 (particularly in South Australia), guest author Allan O’Neil takes a closer look at the operation of battery units in South Australia.
A bounce back: a review of Q2 2024 prices
We just witnessed another eventful Q2, with at least four drivers contributing to significant price volatility. This is our annual review of Q2 prices, where we compare these outcomes against the long-term trend.
The Grattan report ‘Keeping the lights on’ is worth a read
Enroute to Melbourne today for the EUAA National Conference starting tomorrow, I grabbed some flight time to have a quick read through the Grattan Institute’s latest offering – a 45-page report appropriately titled ‘Keeping the Lights on’: Quite topical that…
Updated trend of ‘ENERGY’ bids in red, green and blue
Last Tuesday 23rd April 2024 I spoke with an audience organised by BofA Securities with respect to ‘Risk, Uncertainty and Volatility in the energy transition’. Here’s one illustration of why the spread of spot prices in the NEM has been increasing in recent years.
Optimising a highly renewable NEM from scratch, Part 2
In Part 2 of their modelling and analysis project, David Leitch and Paul Bandarian discuss the modelled results of their sharpe ratio-maximised VRE system, including additional considerations regarding transmission.
Case Study of inertia supplied by source in the NSW grid on Tuesday 14th November 2023
With GenInsights Quarterly Update for 2023 Q4 completed, and some time till the end of 2024 Q1, we’ve looked back at Tuesday 14th November 2023 (when AEMO had concerns about low System Strength in NSW) and looked at the level of inertia actually seen in the grid. A useful Case Study to say ‘what would have happened without Eraring?’
Optimising a highly renewable NEM from scratch
David Leitch and Paul Bandarian present and discuss the model they’ve created which uses a maximum Sharpe ratio wind and solar portfolio for the 2025 calendar year, drawing upon data from the AEMO’s 2024 ISP.
Convective downdrafts and high-voltage transmission lines
In light of another transmission tower collapse caused by convective wind gusts, we’ve invited wind loading expert Dr John Holmes to explain this phenomena.
The Generator Statistical Digest 2023 (GSD2023) is released
It’s Thursday 15th February 2024 and (in amongst the detailed analysis relating to Tue 13th Feb 2024 in Victoria) we’re releasing the GSD2023 … the Generator Statistical Digest for the 2023 calendar year.
A look into minimum generation levels at various coal plants, using the GSD2023
Nick Bartels from Greenview Strategic Consulting uses the GSD2023 to examine minimum and maximum generation levels at various coal and gas plants in the market.
Batteries, coal revenues and demand response units: Insights from the GSD2023
David Leitch provides his top insights from reading his (pre-published) copy of our GSD2023 – due to be released later this week.
An initial review of Cohuna Solar Farm through 2023 – including bushfire effects (related to electrical equipment onsite?)
Noting an earlier article on PV Magazine about a direction from Energy Safe Victoria relating to the Cohuna Solar Farm, we take a quick initial look at operations in the AEMO market data.
Dan Lee’s reflections about ‘the year that was in 2023’ via the WattClarity insight service
Yesterday (Thu 22nd Dec 2023), Dan Lee posted a summary of WattClarity service through 2023 on our company website. Today I’m sharing that with WattClarity readers here.
Worth a read – ESIG Report ‘Weather Dataset Needs for Planning and Analyzing Modern Power Systems’
This morning I was fortunate to listen into an ESIG Webinar with respect to their report ‘Weather Dataset Needs for Planning and Analyzing Modern Power Systems’
Rooftop Solar is crushing* the returns for Large-Scale VRE
Following the release of GenInsights Quarterly Updates for 2023 Q3 we’ve chosen to share here one of the clear challenges for large-scale VRE that is emerging (particularly in 2023 Q3) due to the rise and rise of rooftop PV.
What’s happening around Wagga?
Guest author, Allan O’Neil, takes a detailed look at how VIC1-NSW1 transfer capability has been limited frequently due to constraints related to the 051 line in southern NSW, and what it means in terms of inter-regional settlements residue accumulations, market efficiency overall, and the energy transition.
Two pieces of information (about Eraring Power Station) from the Origin Energy 2023 AGM
Yesterday (Wed 18th Oct 2023) Origin Energy held its Annual General Meeting, with discussion wide-ranging. Here’s two things that jumped out to me about the Eraring Power Station, which is currently slated to close in 2025.
Research Paper into solar resource intermittency in future (in a climate changed world)
A quick article on WattClarity pointing to some research completed by Shukla Poddar and others about what future solar profile might be across Australia, in a climate changed world.
Long or short on storage? A look into price signals for duration
Dan Lee looks into utility-scale storage in Queensland – including the need for megawatt-hours, the state of the build-out, and the current market price signal for duration.