Noting the dust storm on Monday 26th May 2025 – and impact on electricity supply-demand
Belatedly noting the dust storm that past through South Australia on Monday 26th May 2025, which Andrew Miskelly of Weatherzone documented in a video on Bsky.
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.
Evening price volatility in NSW on Sunday 1st June 2025
A short note with a NEMwatch snapshot at 17:15 to mark some low-level price action in NSW on Sunday 1st June 2025
Callide C back online, Sunday 1st June 2025
A short article to note that Callide C3 came back online in the early hours of Sunday morning 1st June 2025.
A trend of aggregate ‘Dispatch Error’ for each Semi-Scheduled fuel type on Monday 26th May 2025
Let’s now return to Monday 26th May 2025 to look at aggregate ‘Dispatch Error’ across both Semi-Scheduled fuel types for all dispatch intervals in the day.
A quick look at system frequency, with 2 x coal units offline overnight into Saturday 31st May 2025
It’s fitting to book-end the week with a look at frequency performance overnight (into Saturday 31st May 2025) with two coal unit outages in NSW overnight to see what happened in terms of more...
Two slides we might refer back to later, from the Nelson Review presentation (Thu 29th May 2025 in Brisbane)
As noted in yesterday evening’s article (about one big ‘wrinkle’), I was off to the Brisbane session of the Nelson Review today. Here's two slides that jumped out.
Evening volatility on Thursday 29th May 2025
A very short note with a snapshot of NEMwatch at 17:35 NEM time to mark the first dispatch interval this evening with a spot price above $1,000/MWh.
Poor dispatch performance of VRE (collectively) on Monday 26th May 2025 sufficiently large to drive frequency outside of NOFB
Prior to the Brisbane session of the Nelson Review Panel (on Thu 29th May 2025) we take a look at Dispatch Error in the 16:15 dispatch interval on Monday 26th May 2025 to see...
Was Monday evening’s new record wind production well forecast in advance?
Taking a closer look at the new 'highest ever' point for NEM-wide Wind Production on Monday 26th May 2025, and how well this was forecast in advance.
New all-time record for NEMwide production from Wind on Monday 26th May 2025
Looking back at Monday evening 26th May 2025, there was indeed a new all-time wind production record (which smashed the earlier record set almost exactly a year earlier).
Two large drops in ‘Market Demand’ in South Australia on Monday afternoon 26th May 2025
Worth a short note to tag in this ‘Notification’ widget alert in ez2view triggered at 13:31 (NEM time) on Monday 26th May 2025 about a 235MW drop in ‘Market Demand’ in South Australia.
*Might* be a new all-time record for NEMwide wind production on Monday night 26th May 2025
An updated view (at Monday morning 26th May 2025) at updated forecasts for NEM-wide wind capability for this evening.
Forecast for high wind capability across the NEM on Monday 26th May 2025
A glance at an ez2view dashboard shows AEMO forecasts for wind capability next Monday 26th May 2025 will be quite high.
Trouble at the TEMCO Smelter in Tasmania in May 2025?
On Monday 19th May and Tuesday 20th May 2025 there were several articles we saw that suggested a period of 'limited operations' (and presumably lower electricity consumption) at a major energy user in Tasmania.
Buronga No.5 330kV synchronous condenser has been commissioned in NSW
AEMO notes that 'At 1700 hrs 20/05/2025, the Buronga No.5 330kV synchronous condenser has been commissioned.'
Prices up in the southern half of the NEM – on Tuesday 20th May 2025
A short article to mark a (relatively rare) instance where prices in the three southern regions of a May evening are more elevated than in QLD and NSW.
Loy Yang A3 offline on Tuesday afternoon 20th May 2025 – small frequency drop
A short note because of a 295MW drop in output from Loy Yang A3 just prior to 14:06 (NEM time) on Tuesday 20th May 2025.
My unofficial report on an unofficial ‘Energy Week’ in Melbourne 5th to 9th May 2025
From Monday 5th May to Friday 9th May 2025 was like an unofficial Energy Week in Melbourne for me, out-and-about at a few events. Here's my record of some of what happened...
Unplanned outage at Callide C3 extended by 3 days – to Monday 2nd June 2025
A short note to flag this 3-day extension to the unplanned outage at Callide C3.
Early evening volatility in NSW (and QLD) on Sunday 18th May 2025
A short note to highlight some early evening volatility from 16:55 (NEM time) on Sunday 18th May 2025.