Elevated prices in South Australia through the day on Thursday 30th July 2026

It’s Thursday evening 30th July 2026 as we approach the end of a day when my phone has been buzzing  fairly consistently through the day with spot prices above $500/MWh in the South Australian region.

No time for anything other than this NEMwatch snapshot at 20:50 dispatch interval (NEM time) to show some of what’s been happening:

A useful coincidence to note:

1)  That this happens the day after the wrap-up of the two-day 2026 ACES Conference in Sydney, which several of the team were pleased to attend

… at which we witnessed more of the pragmatic realisation that there’s a rational role for gas to assist in closing coal (Observation 5 and 7); and

2)  On the day that Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio resigns

… so perhaps now we might be able to see Capacity Investment Scheme (notwithstanding the other flaws we’ve written about before (incl Observation 3), and which were discussed at some length at 2026 ACES) might see a way clear to allow some small share of gas-fired generation into support for closing coal.