Might get close to a new all-time record for wind production late this weekend?

It’s probably news to noone that Australia’s a continent of two halves at present, dominated by a high pressure system in the north and a low pressure system off the southern coast – leading to:

Half #1)  baking winter* heat in the north; and

* yeah, right, ‘winter’ in name only!

Half #2)  wild winds in the south.

 

So it’s not really a surprise to see that Ben Domensino wrote about ‘Five more days of damaging winds for southern Australia’ on Weatherzone yesterday:

2024-08-29-at-15-38-Weatherzone

 

I wondered what this might mean for aggregate wind yields over the coming days, so firstly jumped to this pre-prepared trend from ez2view looking at:

1)  actual wind production levels (backwards in time); and

2)  AEMO’s UIGF (forwards in time … noting that this is a forecast capability, and that the output might be moderated by VRE curtailment for economic or network reasons)

 

2024-08-30-at-08-53-ez2view-Trend-NEMwide-WindProduction

Highlighted on this chart are:

1)  A period early morning on Monday 26th August 2024 when aggregate wind yield

… noting that Grid Demand is diurnally low at that point

2)  Forecast peak in wind capability above 8,000MW over the weekend:

(a)  Just above 8,000MW briefly in the early hours of Saturday 31st August 2024; and

(b)  Slightly higher in the early hours of Monday 2nd September 2024.

(c)  Both of which might go close to the all-time record set on Thursday 30th May 2024.

 

Wanting to see more dimensions to this query, we shift to the ‘Forecast Convergence’ widget in ez2view and flip to NEM-wide UIGF for Wind:

2024-08-30-at-09-05-ez2view-ForecastConvergence-NEM-Wind

‘Looking up the verticals’  highlighted to ‘see that other dimension of time’ we see that the forecast wind capability has been growing over AEMO’s successive forecasts … so definitely hold onto your hats this weekend!


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.

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