The first stage of the Kidston Energy Park powers up
With Genex releasing an ASX announcement of first revenue at Kidston Solar Farm, we use NEMreview v7 to have a quick 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.
Unfortunately no time for a “Best Peak Demand Forecaster” competition for summer 2017-18
For reasons explained herein, we're unable to set aside the time required to run a competition on the "best peak demand forecaster in the NEM" for summer 2017-18.
AEMC released Final Determination on Five Minute Settlement on 28th November 2017
A quick look back at the AEMC's Final Determination on Five Minute Settlement.
It’s complete baloney to claim that there’s “less than 1%” of peak demand in the NEM that is currently providing Demand Response
Some quick thoughts (before I run out of time) about why it's all-too-commonly (but mistakenly) stated that there's not much Demand Response in the NEM
If you increase your consumption of energy at a time when average emissions intensity is low, you’re not necessarily doing a good thing for the environment
A quick note about the need to avoid focusing on average emissions intensity (for the wrong reasons) and losing sight of the fact that it's the emissions intensity of the next marginal unit of...
Hornsdale Power Reserve (a.k.a. “the world’s biggest battery”) begins to charge, and also discharges for the first time on Saturday
It's Saturday 25th November 2017 and what is currently known as "the worlds biggest battery" has kicked into gear - charging for a couple hours this morning.
Some simple calculations to help get my head around the scale of the numbers pertaining to Battery Storage
Some quick calculations performed today to help me try to understand what the future might hold, in terms of battery storage (given I've been asked to talk batteries today at the National Consumer Roundtable...
Following up, with a top-down (NEM-wide) look at daily solar production (small and large) through 2017
Following on from my earlier post about my own experiences as a small power generator (with solar PV at home), I've taken a broader look at solar PV production NEM-wide, including over the corresponding...
Some initial musings about my own Rooftop Solar Learning Exercise
There's already been a large uptake of distributed energy generation data, and there promises to be much more to come in this energy transition. With this comes some significant challenges - along with opportunities...
Analytical Challenge – avoiding Recency Bias
Flagging the ongoing challenge of not extrapolating from recent performance to infer that "things" will always be that way.
The two, SA Government-owned, “Emergency Generators” produce first power whilst commissioning
The two emergency generators provide first power to the South Australian grid.
Villain #2 – we, the voting public
My sense is that we, the voting public, are Villains #2 in running the energy transition train off the tracks.
Villain #1 – our Emperors (present, past and would-be) have no clothes
First up in our listing of Villains in relation to the unfolding energy crisis are, of course, our political leaders - State and Federal, past, present and prospective.
A long list of Villains – that have each contributed to our “energy crisis”
A multi-layered energy crisis is upon us. I've identified 10 "root causes" (or "villains") that have each played key roles in the way in which our energy transition has run off the rails.
The solar component of the Gullen Range Power Station started operation on 14th September
Quick look at how Gullen Range solar has gone, since it started on 14th September.
Here’s two odd examples being used in attempt to justify a claim of why privatisation will lead to higher spot prices
Reading an article in the Courier Mail on Saturday I was struck by the use of two particularly odd examples to support a case for retention of government ownership of electricity generation.
A selected (and evolving) chronology of the QLD Government’s involvement in the QLD Generation sector
Here's a chronological record of key aspects of government involvement in the generation sector within Queensland.
Comparison between Liddell Power Station (in NSW) with Muja A&B Power Station (in WA)
Some quick thoughts about the comparison being made by others between two ageing coal-fired power stations (Liddell power station in NSW and the Muja A&B stations in the SWIS of WA)
Initial questions about the LGC market
Our first look at trended LGC production (aggregated by state/territory) and LGC spot prices (monthly average), now possible in NEMreview v7, generates a number of questions...
Why is wind production being curtailed (or “dispatched down”, more strictly speaking)?
It was inevitable that Semi-Scheduled plant would start to experience times when they are dispatched down. It's a big prompt to take next steps up the learning curve.