Dispatch Price spikes above $12,000/MWh in VIC and SA today

A brief article this afternoon to document the price spike above $12,000/MWh in the 15:50 dispatch interval (which equates to 16:50 local time in Melbourne and 16:20 local time in Adelaide.

Here’s what was captured in our NEMwatch v10 entry-level dashboard at the time:

2018-12-12-at-15-50-NEMwatch-spikeVICandSA

No time for much more today, but will also include the snapshot tweeted earlier (at 15:20) from ez2view which shows some of the contributing factors in more detail:

2018-12-12-at-15-20-ez2view-Victoria

As noted on both images, there was more than one contributing factor (there almost always is!), including – in no particular order:

Factor 1 = 3 large coal units offline;

Factor 2 = Relative lack of wind (including a fairly rapid drop of about 160MW after the price spike, interestingly)

Factor 3 = Limitations on imports from NSW, which also affected Murray output, and output from Southern Hydro;

Factor 4 = Hot weather supporting demand (though nowhere near extreme levels)

Summer’s heating up – literally, and figuratively …


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.

3 Comments on "Dispatch Price spikes above $12,000/MWh in VIC and SA today"

  1. Factor 5 = Early celebration of the 20th birthday of NEM commencement (13/12/1998)?

  2. Any commentary on the Tesla battery (Hornsdale) and it’s inability to reduce prices in SA during this event?

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