The first working day of summer sees volatility return in Victoria and South Australia
A snapshot from NEM-Watch capturing the first volatility seen this summer
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.
Is solar PV providing more opportunity for spot price engineering?
Some initial analysis looking into the question of whether the increased penetration of solar PV is increasing the variability of scheduled demand to the point that generators can exert more pressure on spot prices.
Price volatility returns to the Queensland region
A quick look at some more volatility experienced in the Queensland region on Wednesday 23rd October
Two evening price spikes send jitters …
The dispatch price in Queensland spiked to $1,500/MWh at 18:25 and again at 22:40 yesterday evening – triggering jitters in some who fear a return to the volatility of summer 2013.
Is Mortlake bucking the trend?
A quick look at the long-run trend in output at Origin Energy's large Mortlake plant in western Victoria.
CORRECTION – Tamar Valley is not mothballed, just bid unavailable
A correction about Tamar Valley's drop in production - and some further thoughts.
Another station down – to what extent due to local factors?
Despite consistently averaging monthly output of up to 200MW for a number of years, the Tamar Valley power station has been mothballed following an ownership change
Updated animation of 20th December 2012 – a volatile day in the Queensland Region
An updated animation of 20th December 2012 focused on the Queensland region - a volatile day for that region.
Sydney swelters on Thursday, but demand remains in the doldrums
Despite some high temperatures around Sydney today, electricity demand remained subdued.
Spring 2013 in the NEM
A collection of articles posted about what we see happening in the NEM through spring 2013
Has declining demand claimed its next victim?
Some recent changes in the MT PASA forward view of available generation capacities in NSW seem to imply that the declining demand might have taken another victim.
The NEM might support 37% energy supplied from wind – but it would still require at least 21GW of non-wind capacity on standby
A hypothetical case of what production patterns from wind might look like through a year with increased installed capacity of wind farms.
Aggregate wind farm output growing, but intermittency still remains
A more detailed look at how the percentage of energy supplied in the NEM from wind has risen to be 3.5% on an annual basis - though the degree of indeterminacy continues to be...
Who was the winner of our competition for LinkingIn to WattClarity?
Rather than just drawing a lucky winner out of a hat, or using a random number generator, someone suggested we take a different approach - and here are the results.
Performance of wind farms, to date in 2013
Here's a view of how daily wind farm production (by region, and NEM-wide) has trended over the 2013 calendar year to date - the correlation of output on a daily basis, and the contribution...
Queensland lunchtime demand slips away….
Today (Wednesday 24th July) we note how the Queensland lunchtime electricity demand is stuck in the blue zone - the uptake of solar PV, and a sunny day for Clean Energy Week, would be...
Daily wind generation does not seem to be close to 90% of South Australia’s supplies–are we missing something?
Wind generation on some days in the past 2 weeks supplied a big percentage of SA demand - but not (on a daily basis, at least) near the 90% level.
Animation of several hours over the evening of Saturday 12th January 2013 in Queensland
Here's another animated case study of one more interesting time that occurred through summer 2013 in Queensland - on this occasion the evening of Saturday 12th January 2013.
Quick quiz – how many do you get right, about what happened in the Queensland Region over summer 2013?
Five thought-provoking questions about what really happened in Queensland over summer 2013 - and the supplementary question about what it all means for the future.
Revisiting 2nd January 2013 in Queensland – to illustrate the interaction of rebidding and constraints
Beginning prior to 7am and progressing through the morning of Wednesday 2nd January 2013, there was significant volatility in the Queensland region of the National Electricity Market - including four spikes at or above...