A remarkable(?) Christmas Day load shape
A brief look at the demand shape on Christmas Day 2012, and how this compares to prior years.
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.
Celebrate a summer Christmas with us–with your own new Beefmaster Premium 6 BBQ!
Here's our regular, annual and popular call-to-calculators for all those who've drawn the short straw and have to work on through the Christmas -to- New Year this summer season. Turn the tables on those...
To what extent is Wind reducing spot prices in South Australia?
Some starting thoughts, about the extent to which increased wind farm output has been responsible in the drop in spot prices in South Australia from the high levels seen in 2008.
Electricity demand creeps higher in Queensland, on the back of hot weather
A record of a higher demand day in Queensland today
Prices see-saw across the (mainland) NEM today
An interesting day in the NEM today, with prices gyrating across a wide spectrum, and across all four mainland regions - on the back of higher demand in Victoria and South Australia due to...
An illustration of the nature of dynamic wholesale electricity prices in Queensland today
Three images from NEM-Watch highlighting extremes of pricing in the Queensland region of the National Electricity Market today - illustrating the volatility, and hence the opportunities for Demand Side Response.
A stinker today in southern Queensland, leading to high demand and prices on the tipping point
A brief look, during the day, of the effect that the Queensland heat wave is having on electricity demand within the state - and further across the NEM. It was a day of marked...
Summer 2012-13 in the NEM
A collection of articles about events that occur, and observations that are made, about summer 2012-13 in the Australian National Electricity Market.
Prices soar as the south-east sizzles – with summer arriving early
Some quick observations about the price spikes observed yesterday on the back of high temperature-driven demand in Victoria.
Trends in Production and Spot Revenues at 4 coal-fired stations
A number of recently announced closures of (and cut-backs in) a variety of coal-fired power station units across the NEM (including Northern, Yallourn, Munmorah and Tarong) - claimed to be a result of carbon...
High wind production in South Australia yesterday – how does this compare to past instances?
Placing some context around reports of a record share of electricity demand in South Australia yesterday being met by wind production.
Liquidity of futures trading in Australia’s National Electricity Market
A look at the trend towards deeper liquidity of trading of electricity derivatives in Australia's National Electricity Market (NEM).
Trends in power station output by fuel type
Some observations about the longer-term trend of electricity production, across the NEM, aggregated across all states by fuel type. This reveals some of the trends that have been developing in recent years prior to...
The 871-855 constraint returns
A snapshot of an instance of the Queensland regional constraint, which has returned after an absence over the autumn months.
How has the Carbon Tax influenced Hydro Generation levels?
A brief look at the significant increase in output from hydro plant coincident with (and slightly preceding) the introduction of the Carbon Tax
About Wind Diversity
A quick look at the extent to which wind supplies (across all wind turbines in the NEM) are diverse enough for supplies to have a degree of dependability.
Yallourn is limping back into service
Following some questions yesterday (from clients and others) we take a quick look at how Yallourn Power Station is progressing in coming back from outage caused by inundation from the nearby river.
3 Questions we’ve been asked, following the introduction of the Carbon Tax
The range of questions we've been asked over the course of the past 2 weeks (since the introduction of the Carbon Tax) seem to resolve to these 3 key questions.
One week into the Carbon Tax – how have emissions changed?
Now that we’re through the first week of Australia’s new Carbon Tax, we thought it would be of interest to have a look at whether there has been any significant change in dispatch patterns...
A very volatile day in VIC and SA (not particularly due to the Carbon Tax)
Some quick notes today, on day #2 of the Carbon Tax, prompted by some prices that jumped all around the place (not so much due to carbon, though).