High temperatures drive NEM-wide demand towards 30,000MW

The heat of yesterday has spread into Victoria today, driving NEM-Wide towards the magical* 30,000MW NEM-wide demand benchmark.

A view of elevated prices in the VIC and SA region today on the back of high temperatures

As seen in this snapshot from NEM-Watch  at 16:15 market time (17:15 in Victoria with daylight savings) the prices had spiked significantly in VIC and SA on the back of the reasonable demand levels achieved in VIC and SA because of the high temperatures.

Becalmed wind farms in South Australia and the operation of only one unit at Northern are amongst the reasons for the prices being elevated in South Australia.  After promising to also spike (in predispatch) for much of the morning, the Victorian price finally followed the South Australian price at 16:00 – with the spike captured here at 16:15 larger again.


* I note that the 30,000MW demand range is something we’ve not seen a lot of in recent years due to declining demand, despite the fact that the peak summer demand as far back as 2005-06 was 30,994MW (a number Trevor Persal thanks for his win in our BBQ competition of that year).


About the Author

Paul McArdle
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.

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