Summer has been and gone (and the winner of our BBQ as the “Best Demand Forecaster in the NEM” will be determined next week) but we could not help but note the elevated temperatures across Victoria and South Australia today awakening demand in those regions from the slumber of the past couple weeks.
In this snapshot from NEM-Watch this afternoon, we see how the demand in both regions has advanced into the yellow zone and, as a result of limitations on the import capability from Tasmania and NSW, the Instantaneous Reserve Plant Margin (IRPM) for the “Economic Island” of VIC+SA dropping below 15%. Prices, as a result of the tighter supply/demand balance, are elevated.
One of three founders of Global-Roam back in 2000, Paul has been CEO of the company since that time.
As an author on WattClarity, Paul's focus has been to help make the electricity market more understandable.
Returning to the theme of analysis of Q2 prices (completed in 2017 and 2016 due to Q2 historically being an uneventful period) we see that prices have backed off from the “off the charts” level of 2017, but are still much higher in all regions than most other regions. In some cases results are second worst in 20 years.
A brief look, during the day, of the effect that the Queensland heat wave is having on electricity demand within the state – and further across the NEM. It was a day of marked contrast in demand patterns in the north and the south.
Four weeks ago, we observed a significant discrepancy between AEMO’s forecast for (what would have been) a record low point for Scheduled Demand in South Australia and what actually eventuated. We’ve now had time to explore further…
This week saw a new record demand in NSW of 13,292MW on Thursday 2nd February. Correspondingly, average prices were above $100/MWh in both NSW and Queensland – but the price spikes did not transfer to the southern regions.
2 Commentson "A late burst to summer in the south drives demand higher"
Re the IRPM I followed the link to the Nem Watch glossary. Unfortunately it no longer provides a formally definition of the IRPM nor a formula. Would you let me know where I can find one?
IRPM translates the measure of RPM (traditionally used in a longer-term planning context) to real time:
IRPM = (Total Available Generation – Total Demand)/(Total Demand)
Within an Economic Island we substitute:
IRPM ei = (Total Available Generation – Net Demand)/(Net Demand)
where Net Demand = Demand in regions within the Economic Island + Net Exports, which are supplied by the local generators.
Re the IRPM I followed the link to the Nem Watch glossary. Unfortunately it no longer provides a formally definition of the IRPM nor a formula. Would you let me know where I can find one?
Regards
Hi Romek
Thanks for pointing this out – this information provides an explanation of the family of bar charts shown:
http://v8.nem-watch.info/help/islands/graphs.asp
IRPM translates the measure of RPM (traditionally used in a longer-term planning context) to real time:
IRPM = (Total Available Generation – Total Demand)/(Total Demand)
Within an Economic Island we substitute:
IRPM ei = (Total Available Generation – Net Demand)/(Net Demand)
where Net Demand = Demand in regions within the Economic Island + Net Exports, which are supplied by the local generators.
Does this help?
Paul