AEMC makes Final Determination to improve market arrangements for Security Services
On 28 March 2024, the AEMC published the ‘Final rule to improve security frameworks for the energy market transition’ (the ISF determination)
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.
Case Study of inertia supplied by source in the NSW grid on Tuesday 14th November 2023
With GenInsights Quarterly Update for 2023 Q4 completed, and some time till the end of 2024 Q1, we've looked back at Tuesday 14th November 2023 (when AEMO had concerns about low System Strength in...
Weatherzone forecasts possibility of Wind Farm (high wind speed) Cut Outs
A Weatherzone forecast of potential high wind-speed cut-outs at some Wind Farms in the coming days will be of interest to some WattClarity readers.
The earlier fire at Torrens Island switchyard (Mon 25th March 2024)
Yesterday we wrote briefly about ‘Electrical fire in switchyard at Torrens Island Power station’ following a tip on 7News. In that news update, 7News mentioned that there was an earlier fire at the switchyard...
The fire at Torrens Island switchyard (Wed 27th March 2024) curtailed the Torrens Battery
With 'next day public' bid data, we see the impact the switchyard fire had on Torrens Island BESS on Wed 27th March 2024.
Electrical fire in switchyard at Torrens Island Power station
A quick article following a 7News Adelaide report of an electrical fire at Torrens Island power station.
Pelican Point penalised $900,000 for breach on Wed 8th February 2017
Today (Wed 27th March 2024) the AER issues a Media Release about a $900,000 penalty to Pelican Point (owned by Engie) relating to breach of rules on 8th February 2017.
GenInsights Quarterly Update for 2023 Q4 released
A somewhat belated note about our release of GenInsights Quarterly Updates report for 2023 Q4 earlier in March 2024.
Another slight slippage in return to service (RTS) expectation for Callide C3
A short note about another (minor) delay in return to service for the repaired Callide C3 unit, that suffered a cooling tower failure.
The BOM reference document ‘Australian Space Weather Alert System’
This BOM document ‘Australian Space Weather Alert System’ might be a useful reference.
AEMO Market Notice about ‘Space weather’
Early this morning AEMO issued MN115774 about a Space Weather Event and warned 'the effects are expected to be significant'.
A focused look at operations at Victoria Big Battery (VBB) on Tuesday 13th February 2024
In this article we circle back to Tuesday 13th February 2024 to tick off a few more of the long list of questions about the 'Major Power System Event' - in this article with...
Background information about the Victorian Big Battery and the SIPS service (System Integrity Protection System)
Prompted by the other article today, I've taken a look at published information about the required operations of the Victoria Big Battery (VBB) under the System Integrity Protection System (SIPS).
AEMO report on multiple incidents impacting SCADA over almost 3 years 2021, 2022 and 2023
Also last week, AEMO informed the market of the availability of a report outlining 18 discrete incidents, over a period of just under 3 years, that included SCADA failure in some way. The report...
ESIG Report ‘New Resource Adequacy Criteria for the Energy Transition’
Last week I was notified of the release of a new ESIG report ‘New Resource Adequacy Criteria for the Energy Transition’, which will be of interest to some WattClarity readers.
AER issues paper on Enhanced Wholesale Market Monitoring and Reporting Guideline
A short article following AER's release of an Issues Paper relating to the (soon to be enacted) expansion of its Wholesale Market Monitoring and Reporting responsibilities for Electricity (and Gas).
Where’s that major planned outage for YWPS1 go?
A client question (for GenInsights Quarterly Updates) recently prompted a quick look at the delay to the start of the planned outage for Yallourn Unit 1.
AEMO notifies of Scheduling Error (Incident 60) from 24th Jan 2024 to 7th March 2024
A short note on Thu 21st March 2024, the day the AEMO notifies the market of a Scheduling Error (incident 60) spanning 24th January 2024 to 7th March 2024.
AEMO publishes GSOO 2024 … media headlines about Gas Shortages
On Thursday 21st March 2024, the AEMO released the Gas Statement of Opportunities (GSOO) for 2024 - warning of potential gas supply shortfalls as early as Winter 2025.
How many Semi-Scheduled units were submitting Self-Forecasts through 2023 (and how many of these were actually used in dispatch)?
Our GSD2023 was released just over 4 weeks ago. This is the second sequential article utilising the GSD2023 Data Extract to take a look across all the Semi-Scheduled units (i.e. Wind and Solar). In...