Bottom falls out of electricity demand in VIC on Christmas Day 2020
Short note about what might be a new record low point for electricity demand in Victoria on Christmas Day 2020.
2020
Temperature Alert!
As we wind down for Christmas, recapping some developments (in Nov and Dec 2020) about high temperature limitations on generation technology across the NEM.
How aggregate production from Wind and Large Solar in NSW dropped last week – one factor contributing to price spikes and Reserve Trader
An unfortunately timed significant slump in output across all Wind and Large Solar plant in NSW was another of the factors contributing to the price volatility seen in NSW last week.
What’s up with the fleet of 16 x coal-fired units in NSW?
Following a week where several days saw price volatility in NSW (with this being so extreme that Reserve Trader was triggered on Thursday 17th December) we've taken a look at the comparative performance of...
Liddell unit 3 out till perhaps March 2021 after transformer incident (serious injury to one person)
The publication by AGL Energy of the short note about the transformer incident (and injured worker) at Liddell unit 3 yesterday prompted me to have a quick look, following on from the volatility this...
Increasing the transparency and correctness of intermittent generation availability information to AEMO
Following up to AEMO's recent Intermittent Generator forum, Marcelle looks at the challenges for wind and solar farms in providing consistently good plant availability information to AEMO and the value of transparency of this...
Price volatility (third day in a row) … and Reserve Trader dispatched in NSW
Third day in a row we see volatility in NSW (and QLD) ... and this afternoon AEMO contracts, and then dispatches, Reserve Trader in NSW
Wind and solar transactions: What to buy in the new-year sales
David Leitch & Ben Willacy of ITK Services provide an overview of the wind and solar assets in the NEM that are currently up for sale
More price volatility in (QLD and) NSW on Wednesday 16th December 2020
Second day in a row the price spikes in the NSW region ... higher and longer than yesterday. Low aggregate production from Wind and Large Solar across NSW today was clearly one other factor...
Short price spike in NSW on Tuesday 15th December 2020
A quick look at a spike in NSW price this afternoon above $3,000/MWh due to a number of different factors ... including a trip of unit 3 at Eraring coal-fired power station.
PPAs aren’t as easy as they used to be!
This is the fourth of a short series of video snippets extracted from the 17th September 2020 presentation by Marcelle Gannon and Jonathon Dyson for the Clean Energy Council entitled ‘Maximising Profitability in the...
How does a wind or solar farm make money?
This is the third of a short series of video snippets extracted from the 17th September 2020 presentation by Marcelle Gannon and Jonathon Dyson for the Clean Energy Council entitled ‘Maximising Profitability in the...
Constraint Case Study Followup – Early outcomes of the new “X5 constraint”
On 25th November, guest author Allan O'Neil examined the 'X5 Constraint'. Two weeks of operation have passed, so now Allan reviews some of what's happened.
Conformance and compliance–what’s the difference?
This is the second of a short series of video snippets extracted from the 17th September 2020 presentation by Marcelle Gannon and Jonathon Dyson for the Clean Energy Council entitled ‘Maximising Profitability in the...
Do you know your obligations as a Semi-Scheduled Generator?
This is the first of a short series of video snippets extracted from the 17th September 2020 presentation by Marcelle Gannon and Jonathon Dyson for the Clean Energy Council entitled 'Maximising Profitability in the...
Price spikes in NSW and QLD on the first afternoon of December
Earlier this afternoon we were alerted to a price spike in NSW and QLD that was seemingly caused by a unit trip at one of the larger generators in NSW.
Making demand response work with negative prices
A recent development over in the WEM (paying energy users to consume, when there's too much solar and wind) highlights the lack of foresight in the NEM ... where we've implemented a significant reform...
Surprise LOR2 (Low Reserve Condition) forecast for QLD next Monday afternoon, 30th November 2020
Prompted by an SMS alert this evening, we take a look at the tight supply/demand balance currently forecast for the QLD region on Monday afternoon next week (30th Nov 2020).
Case Study – How to interpret a new NEM constraint and guess what it might do
Given the great interest in the new 'X5 constraint', guest author, Allan O'Neil, has invested some time to pick the new constraint equation to understand (and then explain) what it is, how likely it...
More pain ahead for non-synchronous units … a bigger ‘rhombus of regret’ in western NSW & VIC
From tomorrow (Fri 20th Nov) market participants in south-western NSW and north-western VIC will need to grapple with yet another transmission constraint seeking to 'constraint down' their output when it's sunny and/or windy. This...