Yes, the demand did peek above 30,000MW

Posted by Paul McArdle Friday, February 24 2012 Topic: Summer 2011-12

As a quick PS to the note earlier today (posted a bit too early in the afternoon), I note that the demand did rise to a maximum today of 30,218MW at 15:50 – which would seem to be the maximum all summer, as well.

Here’s a view of the dispatch interval just beforehand which we managed to capture in real time.  In this image, we can also see that demand in VIC and SA has just nudged out of the green zone, as a result of the high temperatures this afternoon.

2012-02-24 at 15-45 NEM-Watch

To put this into context:

1)  This demand is still 800MW below the lowest entry in our “Peak Demand Forecaster” competition for this summer.  Hence one might suppose that it’s a fair bit lower than many people in the industry had expected (and these were not predictions made ages in advance).

2)  It’s also still below the peak demand experienced in summer 2005-06 (so 6 years ago) of 30,994MW when measured on the same basis, and the peak demand of every summer since.

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About the Author

Paul McArdle
Paul was one of the founders of Global-Roam in February 2000. He is currently the CEO of the company and the principal author of WattClarity. Writing for WattClarity has become a natural extension of his work in understanding the electricity market, enabling him to lead the team in developing better software for clients. Before co-founding the company, Paul worked as a Mechanical Engineer for the Queensland Electricity Commission in the early 1990s. He also gained international experience in Japan, the United States, Canada, the UK, and Argentina as part of his ES Cornwall Memorial Scholarship.

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2 Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. A hot Saturday could have driven demand higher – but how much? | WattClarity
  2. Recapping NEM-Wide demand (or the lack thereof) over summer | WattClarity

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