Coincident with the race, we’ve seen a number of comments in social media about the coincident (& large) drop in demand in NSW that occurred around the same time – a number of people linking the two together. Last year we posted both:
1) A review on Monday prior to the 2014 race of the effect of previous years; and
2) This review of how electricity demand changed in 2014 coincident with the running of the horses.
Here’s how this Tuesday’s change looked in NEM-Watch:
We should clarify, however, that (as noted in the image above) the large drop in load in 2015 was not due to the horse race, exciting as that might have been…
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 temperature-driven spike in demand across the NEM later in the week beginning Sunday 7th January – culminating in the summer’s first demand peak above 30,000MW (on Thursday 11th January).
On this occasion, the spot price spiked above $1000/MWh in Queensland, NSW, Snowy and Victoria,
We compiled a week-by-week summary of interesting events that occurred in the NEM – from 19th November 2006 through until 16th January 2007 (the day of the blackout).
A quick look at the ‘N-DPWG_63_X5’ constraint set as a driver for the curtailment of solar (and other) units in south-western NSW on Monday 24th June 2024.
There was a temperature-driven spike in demand in NSW on Tuesday 21st November 2006.
These sweltering temperatures combined with bushfires to cause localised blackouts in the Sydney city area, as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald in the article “Power jitters as heat bites”.
4 Commentson "It wasn’t the horse race that led the large drop in load in NSW coincident with the race"
That’s my understanding also – however I did not know, for sure, if that information was public knowledge hence was not going to be the first to state so.
Th e story portrayed by the aluminium industry is that they couldn’t possibly participate in any load shedding at any time, because then all their pot lines would need to be emptied out of solid aluminium. Yet when when the problem is their side of the meter it doesn’t seem to be a problem.
Okay, I’m in suspense. So what did cause the significant drop in demand in NSW?
…it was Tomago Aluminium.
Thanks Tom
That’s my understanding also – however I did not know, for sure, if that information was public knowledge hence was not going to be the first to state so.
Paul
Th e story portrayed by the aluminium industry is that they couldn’t possibly participate in any load shedding at any time, because then all their pot lines would need to be emptied out of solid aluminium. Yet when when the problem is their side of the meter it doesn’t seem to be a problem.