Whilst the heat down south has dissipated, Queenslanders have been sweating through some hot and humid days over the past week – these conditions drove electricity demand in Queensland into out of the “boring” green zone and into the orange zone above 8,000MW this afternoon.
Taking advantage of the higher demand, generators were able to enjoy a couple of price spikes through the day – such as this spike to the Market Price Cap (MPC) of $13,100/MWh (formerly known as VOLL) snapped from the newly released NEM-Watch version 9:
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.
There was a high level in demand in Victoria on Thursday 26th January 2006.
This was especially remarkable, considering that it was an Australia Day public holiday – when commercial (though not industrial or residential) demand could be expected to be somewhat lower than would otherwise be the case.
Coupled with this level of demand was a significant spike in price that lasted several hours.
Our guest author, Panos Priftakis, has prepared this analysis of some factors contributing to peak electricity demand – and contributes some insights for summer 2015-16. This might be particularly useful for those contemplating an entry in the WattClarity competition (which closes Friday 27th).
What’s shown in the NEM-Watch snapshot above above are boundaries between NEM Regions, as distinct from state boundaries (though in practical terms it’s pretty much the same thing at present).
Hence, it’s more a matter that Canberra is tightly meshed in the NSW region so does not need its own pricing region – moreso than the fact that its electricity demand is relatively small.
For many years at the start of the NEM there was a Snowy Region between NSW and Victoria – as captured in this snapshot on 7th December 2005. Snowy was abolished from 1st July 2008 with part allocated to NSW and part in VIC.
Is the ACT too small to be included ?
Thanks for the question, Keith
What’s shown in the NEM-Watch snapshot above above are boundaries between NEM Regions, as distinct from state boundaries (though in practical terms it’s pretty much the same thing at present).
Hence, it’s more a matter that Canberra is tightly meshed in the NSW region so does not need its own pricing region – moreso than the fact that its electricity demand is relatively small.
For many years at the start of the NEM there was a Snowy Region between NSW and Victoria – as captured in this snapshot on 7th December 2005. Snowy was abolished from 1st July 2008 with part allocated to NSW and part in VIC.
Does this answer your question?
Paul