What is demand?

We have been asked this question by a number of people (with references to several articles we have published on WattClarity®), as there are a number of different ways of reporting “demand”.

Depending on the source of the data (i.e. which software package we used), it could be any of the following:

NEM-Watch (for a real-time view)

NEM-Watch provides a real-time view of the National Electricity Market.

As such, it updates two different data sets from AEMO/NEMMCO:

1)  Dispatch Data is the 5-minute data AEMO uses to dispatch the market. 

(a)  This data is produced in the NEMDE dispatch engine at the beginning of each (5-min) dispatch interval and applies as the end of the dispatch interval.

(b)  The measure of demand is called the Dispatch Demand Target.

(c)  Hence it is a forecast (at the beginning of the dispatch interval) what the demand will be at the end (hence the name “Target”).

(d)  NEMMCO/AEMO calls it “TOTALDEMAND”.  Because of the small time-scale involved, it tends to be reasonably accurate, but is not the same as a metered demand.

2)  Trading Data is the 30-minute data AEMO uses for commercial transactions in the market. 

(a)  The Trading Demand Target is just the simple (i.e. time-weighted) average of 6 x 5-minute Dispatch Demand Target numbers in the trading interval.

(b)  Hence, this figure (too) is not a metered demand

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NEM-Review (for historical analysis)

As trading (30-min) data is what is used for all commercial transactions in the market, the NEM-Review package provides updates of just this data set.

Hence, the demand numbers shown in NEM-Review at Trading Demand Target.

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NEMforecast (for forward-looking data)

Data published in the PASA process by AEMO is for a given half-hour (or, in the case of MT PASA, for the highest demand half-hour in the day), hence it is the equivalent of Trading Demand Target.

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