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.
Based on forecasts NEMMCO had been providing through their PASA process, we expected that it might prove that this week would deliver huge demand levels, and high prices.
Not to disappoint, the market did deliver high levels of demand in all regions:
(a) Peak demand levels were reduced somewhat from the huge levels the previous week in Victoria and South Australia;
(b) Demand levels were also still building to the record level to be experienced the following week in NSW;
(c) Peak demand levels in Queensland were fairly steady (and high) for most weeks of summer.
(d) In combination, a new NEM-wide peak demand target of 30,994MW was set on Monday 23rd January.
Inertia is an important concept to understand as the technology mix in the NEM evolves during the energy transition. In this article, Jonathon Dyson talks about the importance of inertia and highlights an example of a specific incident where we observed relatively low levels of inertia in the NEM.
With the repeal of the carbon tax looking more likely, and July 1st only just around the corner, someone asked today if we could calculate what the spot price might be without carbon.
This reflects on the lack of wind based generation in NE NSW and more particularly QLD. If QLD had the 6GW+ of wind based generation capacity that it should have by now, then there would be far more consistency in wind based generation output across the NEM as the cold fronts sweep across the country.
What batteries have failed? Batteries are more reliable than coal or fossil gas generators.
Once the 100GWh pa MegaPack factory comes online in Shanghai we are going to see a significant increase in the storage deployed in Australia, along with lower pricing.
A major contributing factor was the lack of transmission capacity between Victoria and SA. Transmission capacity was down by at least 600W, which would have had a major impact on the price.
Price is hardly surprising seeing you got into liquids to keep the lights on. look forward to it as reliance on intermittent generation increases. Unless called up well in advance cold thermal machines won’t get there in time and they won’t be there eventually because their business model is broken and they are all bleeding money because of daytime solar. Little business case for GTs without a capacity market. Then their is the small matter of how do you contract for fuel (gas) when you have no idea when and how much you need. Can be fixed with storage (both electricity for short term and gas for long term) but the punters are going to have to pay at the end of the day. But the experts tell us that renewables are cheaper …..really? This is going to end in tears. Looking at the spot market right now, dare I say the missing 1000MW from Liddell might already be showing up in pricing.
Yesterday afternoon at 3pm wind output across the NEM was 6300MW at 60% capacity factor.
This morning it is 420MW at 4-5% capacity factor.
The situation is even worse in SA with output below 20MW (between 4am and 8:30am) at a capacity factor of less than 1%
This reflects on the lack of wind based generation in NE NSW and more particularly QLD. If QLD had the 6GW+ of wind based generation capacity that it should have by now, then there would be far more consistency in wind based generation output across the NEM as the cold fronts sweep across the country.
Wind generation isn’t a good option for QLD due to it’s higher latitudes.
Maybe SA should build a new coal plant.
Pithy, but unhelpful in my humble opinion.
In progress – another interconnector from SA to NSW
In progress – NSW REZ
Build more wind in QLD, build additional interconnection to NSW possibly – good for the whole NEM as it diversifies away from localised geography.
Why take a state-by-state approach to the NEM which is, ultimately, larger than a single state?
Great reporting: market design flaws AND lack of dispatchable power will lead to an expensive rush for batteries which will fail…dire consequences!
What batteries have failed? Batteries are more reliable than coal or fossil gas generators.
Once the 100GWh pa MegaPack factory comes online in Shanghai we are going to see a significant increase in the storage deployed in Australia, along with lower pricing.
Is this related to recent unavailability of Torrens Island B2 and B4?
A major contributing factor was the lack of transmission capacity between Victoria and SA. Transmission capacity was down by at least 600W, which would have had a major impact on the price.
Price is hardly surprising seeing you got into liquids to keep the lights on. look forward to it as reliance on intermittent generation increases. Unless called up well in advance cold thermal machines won’t get there in time and they won’t be there eventually because their business model is broken and they are all bleeding money because of daytime solar. Little business case for GTs without a capacity market. Then their is the small matter of how do you contract for fuel (gas) when you have no idea when and how much you need. Can be fixed with storage (both electricity for short term and gas for long term) but the punters are going to have to pay at the end of the day. But the experts tell us that renewables are cheaper …..really? This is going to end in tears. Looking at the spot market right now, dare I say the missing 1000MW from Liddell might already be showing up in pricing.