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).
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.
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).
First day under the carbon tax – how have spot prices changed?
It's the first day under the new Carbon Tax regime, so worthwhile to have a quick look at early indications of how spot prices have changed in the NEM.
Winter 2012 in the NEM
An assortment of articles covering events happening during Winter 2012
Flooded Yallourn turns Victoria to an importer
Some brief analysis of the floods at Yallourn Power Station.
… so who won the competition for summer 2011-12 as “Best Demand Forecaster”
Demand was lacklustre but we've still given an impressive BBQ away to our competition winner for this summer....
Recapping NEM-Wide demand (or the lack thereof) over summer
Some summary points about how NEM-Wide demand across the NEM over summer 2011-12 was surprisingly low, with a very low peak achieved.
Hydro generation increases with La Nina
An article recently in one of the main papers about increased flows down the Snowy River prompted the question, internally, about how much the La Nina pattern of the past 24 months had impacted...
A hot Saturday could have driven demand higher – but how much?
A quick look at the demand levels on Saturday 25th driven by hot weather in VIC and SA. What would have happened had this been on a weekday?
Yes, the demand did peek above 30,000MW
Looking further (after making the first post today) I see that the demand did rise above 30,000MW across the Australian National Electricity Market today - still a very low level for the highest demand...
Hot in VIC and SA – but demand not climbing past the green zone
High temperatures in Victoria and South Australia - but demand is still well down on the all-time records for those regions.
No joy for generators as demand stays low
NEM-wide demand is still to crack the 30,000MW barrier (which used to be fairly commonplace several summers ago). This is not providing good news for generators.
Summer continues, but demand has not (yet?) arrived
By now our schools are full again, and businesses are back at work – so it is timely to review how electricity demand in the NEM trended through the holiday months of December and...