A quick look for updates about Waratah BESS, on Wednesday 17th December 2025
At Wednesday 17th December 2025, it’s approaching 4 weeks since Friday 21st November 2025 (when we last looked at Waratah BESS), so we take an updated look ...
Articles by 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.
Blast of hot weather drives ‘forecast LOR2’ in NSW and SA on Thursday 18th December 2025
At 10:24 (NEM time) on Wednesday 17th December 2025 the AEMO issued its latest ‘NEM Local Temperature Alerts’ Market Notice, and this one’s a long one that spans all four mainland regions in the...
A short first article, about the ‘N^^N_NIL_WGLT’ constraint equation
Some first initial notes about the ‘N^^N_NIL_WGLT’ constraint equation ... which was earlier flagged as a 'N::N_NIL_WGLT' constraint equation (and has been referred to as ‘N>>N_NIL_WGLT’ constraint equation).
AER announces that it has instituted proceedings against Transgrid following 2024 Broken Hill outages
On Wednesday 17th December 2025, the AER announced here that it had ‘… instituted proceedings against Transgrid following 2024 Broken Hill outages’.
CSIRO releases draft of ‘2025-26 GenCost Report’ for consultation
As another stocking stuffer for your holiday reading, today (Wednesday 17th December 2025) the CSIRO has released its draft of the next iteration of the much-awaited and often debated GenCost report.
‘N-MNYS_5_WG_CLOSE’ constraint set invoked, because of unplanned outage of Yass – Marulan 5 330kV line
At 16:16 (NEM time) on Wednesday 10th December 2025 there was an unplanned outage of Yass - Marulan 5 330kV line.
Yo-yo-ing of ‘Market Demand’ in South Australia – on Wednesday 10th December 2025
Whilst today saw the release of the draft 2026 ISP, some 'challenges of the future' are already here today - such as the increasingly large and common gyrations in 'Market Demand' seen in South...
Another example of (presumably VRE-induced) weakness in mainland frequency – Wednesday afternoon 10th December 2025
We can see that the frequency weakened late in the afternoon (Wednesday 10th December 2025), falling down towards the Normal Operating Frequency Band.
Victorian Auditor-General’s report ‘Managing the Transition to Renewable Energy’
We thought it might be useful to point directly to the 61-page report ‘Managing the Transition to Renewable Energy’ by the Victorian Auditor-General.
AEMO releases draft of 2026 ISP
Today (Wednesday 10th December 2025) the AEMO has released the much-awaited* draft of the (upcoming 2026 iteration of the) Integrated System Plan .
Wellington North Solar Farm back to 94 ELAV compared to 104 in total
Third article in the series, we take a look at the specifics of how much of Wellington North Solar Farm is back online (at Tuesday morning 9th December 2025).
Early morning price volatility in South Australia on Monday 8th December 2025
There was some early morning price volatility in South Australia on Monday 8th December 2025 - a social media update from Michael Caravaggio from EPRI internationally prompts this article.
Wellington North Solar Farm back online (late Sunday afternoon 7th December and) Monday 8th December 2025
The Wellington North Solar Farm (which came offline Sunday 7th December 2025 due to grass fire) is back online.
Wellington North Solar Farm offline in ST PASA data from Saturday 6th December 2025, following grassfire
Just after 13:00 (NEM time) on Saturday 6th December 2025, the Wellington North Solar Farm came offline following a grass fire onsite.
Lengthy unplanned outage at Yallourn unit 2 extended another 19 days – expected RTS now 12th February 2026
On Friday 5th December 2025 we also saw EnergyAustralia report to AEMO the 19-day extension to the lengthy unplanned outage at YWPS2 following 'LP turbine issues' experienced in August 2025.
Actual MSL2 in South Australia (not the first time) on Sunday 7th December 2025
At 11:02 (NEM time) on Sunday 7th December 2025 the AEMO published MN131472 noting 'Actual MSL2' in South Australia
AEMO requests that Notice of Closure be extended to 5 years (in some cases)
Flagging (from the AEMO rule change request on 14th November 2025) the request to extend Notice of Closure to 5 years ... and to remind readers of thoughts already submitted to the Nelson Review...
Worth noting the AEMO rule change request ‘Efficient and timely management of system security needs through the energy transition’
Pre-dating AEMO’s Monday release of its 2025 TPSS, was AEMO’s Rule Change Request ‘Efficient and timely management of system security needs through the energy transition’.
Increase in minimum LHS Factors in Constraint Equations gone live Tuesday 2nd December 2025
It’s also worth explicitly calling out the increase in minimum LHS factors (from 0.07 to 0.15) that also went live yesterday (Tuesday 2nd December 2025).
‘Blackout bingo’ in the media again this week … this time with Victoria and Yallourn
Following media reporting from Monday about 'blackouts' and 'Eraring closure', today (Wednesday 3rd December) there's a media report about 'blackouts' and 'Yallourn closure'