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.
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...
Summer 2005-06 saw Australians sweltering in temperatures 40 degrees and above. In the National Electricity Market, this led to new peaks in demand and (given the tight supply/demand balance) delivered high (and volatile) spot...
In a week which is traditionally very subdued in the market, the NEM sweltered in temperatures in excess of 40 degrees and an exceptional NEM-wide demand (about 30,000MW) was recorded. What made this demand...
This article was written prior to 2nd February and drew from the insights gained with our NEMforecastTM product to highlight the looming issue of the tight supply/demand balance forecast for 2nd February 2006.
The week started with commotion in Queensland, when the VOLL price ceiling was reached. Further analysis revealed that this was due to transmission system events and the trip of several generation units within Queensland.