The performance of QLD’s two wind farms through Tuesday 1st February 2022

Well, Liv Beavis asked the question, so I thought I’d take a step further (beyond the additional note about the coal units, and the add-on about the trip at Tarong unit 2) to look at what the contribution was at Queensland’s two visible* wind farms.

When reading the following, it might be useful to reference the first image in this article about the the Q^^NIL_CS constraint equation, which was active today.

(A)  The Coopers Gap Wind Farm (in the South-West QLD zone)

Given her role as Site Manager at Coopers Gap, Liz will no doubt be able to fill in more details about what’s been happening onsite at Coopers Gap Wind Farm, but here’s the top-down view (based on available data from AEMO) in the ‘Unit Dashboard’ widget in ez2view looking back a full 24 hours – captured in the ‘Unit Dashboard’ widget in ez2view at the 19:55 dispatch interval this evening:

Notes:

1)  Quite modest output at times of high price.

2)  We know that COOPGWF1 was subject to the Q^^NIL_CS constraint equation today … but it had a negative factor so should have been ‘constrained up’ to the extent that this was possible (with the wind) and depending on its bid, which presumably was like the –$1,000/MWh Market Price Floor bid from Monday.

(B)  The Mt Emerald Wind Farm (in Far North QLD zone)

Switching the focus of the ‘Unit Dashboard’ widget in ez2view to the MEWF1 unit we see the following:

Notes:

1)  Very low output at times of high price.

2)  Constraints may be a factor:

(a)  We know that the MEWF1 unit was one subject to the Q^^NIL_CS constraint equation today:

i.  it has a factor of +0.8915, so would notionally be ‘constrained down’ by that constraint

ii.  however I have done a quick spot check of the CPD Price for the unit, which is shown for the selected DUID in the ‘Unit Dashboard’ widget in ez2view

iii.  We don’t know where this unit (or any unit) placed their bid today, but we do know that …

… They bid their volume down at -$1,000/MWh; and

…  We also know (Appendix 23 in GenInsights21 ) that most units change their price bands quite rarely from one day to the next … but some are quite active!

(b)  There may have been other constraints that were a factor … I have not comprehensively checked.

3)  More data will be visible tomorrow, to help explain.