In Queensland we experienced one of the mildest summers I can remember. As a result of this, demand levels were subdued for most of summer. However, for a couple of days in late February,...
Here’s some articles about the impact of the drought on the NEM – culminating in a stepped change in prices, and changes to dispatch patterns, etc…
Following from the interest generated in the article published in the AFR, we completed some analysis of the trend in IRPM over the history of the NEM up until June 2007. The results of...
For two remarkable winter evenings in 2007 (19th and 20th June specifically) NEM-Wide Instantaneous Reserve Plant Margin (IRPM) plunged to the lowest levels ever seen in the NEM (a mere 7.6%) as generators were...
Our second review was prepared in conjunction with the release of NEM-Watch version 7 (including the new NEM-Watch portal at www.NEM-Watch.info) in March 2007.
Another belated and back-dated article – this one pertaining to another major reform initiative in the NEM, the ERIG Review.
We compiled a week-by-week summary of interesting events that occurred in the NEM - from 19th November 2006 through until 16th January 2007 (the day of the blackout).
Our first review, linked here, was prepared the night of the blackout itself, and provides a chronological history of events, as seen through the NEM-Watch™ application.
Note about the NOUS Group report on the blackout in Victoria of 16th January 2007
Victoria experiences a large blackout in the afternoon and evening of 16 January 2007, when bush fires cause three main transmission lines to trip. This created chaos throughout much of Melbourne, and represented perhaps...
There was a temperature-driven spike in demand across the NEM later in the week beginning Sunday 7th January - culminating in the summer's first demand peak above 30,000MW (on Thursday 11th January). On this...
There was a temperature-driven spike in demand in South Australia on Friday 8th December 2006. However, demand also spiked on other days in the week, and on those occasions did not lead to the...
For several days in early December, temperatures reaching 40 degrees in Queensland and New South Wales cause airconditioning load (and hence total demand) to soar in both regions. The high demands resulted in very...
There was a temperature-driven spike in demand in NSW on Tuesday 21st November 2006. These sweltering temperatures combined with bushfires to cause localised blackouts in the Sydney city area, as reported in the Sydney...
From the start of the NEM through until 2001, the NEM was typified by a pricing dichotomy with sustained rock-bottom pricing in NSW, Snowy and Victoria and high and volatile pricing in the extremities...
There was a high level in demand in Victoria on Thursday 26th January 2006. This was especially remarkable, considering that it was an Australia Day public holiday - when commercial (though not industrial or...
This week saw a new record demand in NSW of 13,292MW on Thursday 2nd February. Correspondingly, average prices were above $100/MWh in both NSW and Queensland - but the price spikes did not transfer...
Based on forecasts NEMMCO had been providing through their PASA process, we expected that it might prove that this week would deliver huge demand levels, and high prices. Not to disappoint, the market did...
This week saw very low average prices across the NEM (below $21/MWh average across the week in all mainland regions). Except for 2 half-hours in Tasmania on Tuesday 7th February (when the price rose...
Demand in Victoria peaked again, bringing with it high prices in Victoria and (to a lesser extent) South Australia. Indeed, the demand experienced in Victoria (on Friday 24th February) exceeded the previous high level...