Here I am peeling another layer of the onion, with respect to Thursday 2nd April 2026 with:
- trip of KPP_1
- with the resultant drop in Frequency; and
- the trigger of various responses via PFR and Regulation FCAS in the 03:05 dispatch intervals.
In Part 1, Part 3 and Part 5 in this series we saw Macarthur Wind Farm mentioned – so here’s a snapshot of the ‘Unit Dashboard’ widget in ez2view, focused on that unit and looking back 2 days from the ‘real time’ point of 14:50 (NEM time) on Thursday 2nd April 2026:
What I want to flag here is that:
- from 14:00 yesterday onwards (until 04:00 today currently, but noting it could continue because that’s the cut-off of the ‘Next Day Public’ data) there appears to be a very consistent run of Dispatch Error at the level of +60MW (or a couple MW either size) over that 14 hour time range.
- that lines up exactly with the period of the Semi-Dispatch Cap.
What appears to have happened is:
- for reasons unknown:
- at 14:00 the UIGF (in AWEFS) jumps from 19MW to 81MW
- but (because ROCUP limits the ramp to 74MW) the SDC kicks in
- but there actually appears to be very low wind, so that’s unachievable … hence Dispatch Error
- Wind forward to 14:05 and repeat
- … etc
- Through until 04:00 this morning (and possibly further)
At present no thoughts immediately jump to mind about why….
Do any readers have ideas, please?
Less about “what happened at Macarthur Wind Farm” than “what happened in the operations area(s) meant to be overseeing its market dispatch?”. Its bids appear to be made on a set-and-forget basis, and no-one noticed that AEMO’s AWEFS availability forecasts somehow got stuck at ~80 MW for nearly 18 hours, well above what it could actually produce.