AEMO updated MT PASA guidance, on 3rd October 2025
Worth copying in here AEMO's Market Notice 129413 published late Friday afternoon 3rd October 2025 pertaining to the coming two-year period - because of some changes and other notes.
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.
Belatedly recording the QLD LNP’s comments about ‘coal for decades’ in September 2025
I alluded to the following comments in Wednesday’s article about the possible early closure of Gladstone Power Station … though we did not have time to note them at the time. We were not...
VP5 into the Planned part of it’s lengthy Unplanned-Planned-Unplanned outage
On my commute this morning (Friday 3rd Oct 2025), I noticed this update on LinkedIn yesterday evening from the team at Delta Electricity, speaking about their annual shutdown at Vales Point 5.
NEM Mainland Frequency wanders south as the sun sets, on Thursday 2nd October 2025
A very short article recording another instance of frequency wandering south as the sun is setting (this one on Thursday 2nd October 2025).
(3 units at) Torrens B station to remain open until mid-2028 after funding arrangement reached
Yesterday (Wed 1st Oct 2025) we had follow-on news about Torrens B, with the Premier of South Australia announcing that ‘Government negotiates energy security agreement’.
Eraring Unit 3 comes offline early Thursday 2nd October 2025 – on the (delayed) short-notice maintenance outage
Following earlier articles about the (delayed) unplanned outage on ER03, worth noting it finally came offline Thursday morning 2nd October 2025.
The Nelson Review panel ‘has identified’ the Schism
Continuing to walk through the draft Report of the Nelson Review, we see that the authors 'identified that most historic policy interventions have been incomplete' (i.e. speak to the Schism).
ABC reports ‘Rio Tinto’s Gladstone coal-fired power station could be retired early’
A very short article here from us today to point readers here to the ABC News article ‘Rio Tinto's Gladstone coal-fired power station could be retired early’ from earlier today
Finally!! … A Major Review that sees (more closely) what’s actually been happening with Demand Response!
In part because I'm speaking at the NEMDev conference (Wed 8th Oct 2025 in Brisbane) we're taking a pass through the draft Report of the Nelson Review. Some (more realistic than earlier Reviews) statements...
3 high-level questions, for considering the draft report of the Nelson Review
Here's three high-level questions we've been trying to keep in mind, in our reading of the draft Report of the Nelson Review panel - for some belated (informal) submissions here on WattClarity.
Some of the ‘Major Reviews’ in the history of the NEM
I thought it would be useful to pull together this (incomplete) tabulated list of major reviews in the history of the NEM.
AEMO forecasts MSL1 for the coming Saturday 4th October 2025 and Sunday 5th October 2025
On Monday 29th September 2025 the AEMO alerted of possible MSL1 for the coming weekend (Sat 4th October and Sunday 5th October) in Victoria.
A quick review of QLD solar (and curtailment) on Monday 29th September 2025 with price at MPF
On LinkedIn someone wrote about the QLD price dropping to the Market Price Floor for the 10:05 and 10:10 dispatch interval today (Mon 29th Sept 2025). So I had a quick look
Start date of short notice outage at ER03 delayed again, now Friday 3rd October 2025
Late on Thursday 25th September 2025, the expected start of the short-notice outage at ER03 was pushed back again (this time by a week).
Yet another data point raising questions about whether Eraring will be able to close in 2027, as per current plan
An article in the print version of the AFR this morning (asking more question about the achievability of the closure of Eraring in 2027) prompts some more head scratching.
Tesla Energy whitepaper ‘The Role of Grid-Forming Inverters in Providing Inertia (in the NEM)’ will be of interest
It was the RenewEconomy article some weeks ago that initially drew our attention to this White Paper ‘The Role of Grid-Forming Inverters in Providing Inertia (in the NEM)’ from Tesla Energy - but we...
The start of the unplanned outage at ER03 is delayed till early Saturday morning 27th September 2025
As a short follow-on article now mid-morning Thursday 25th September 2025 to highlight the delay in the start of the unplanned outage at ER03 as one of the key drivers in AEMO's cancellation of...
Unplanned outage at YWPS2 extended – return to service slated for 15th December 2025 (and may well extend further)
We noticed today (Wednesday 24th September) an ~8 week extension added onto the expected return to service date for YWPS2, which tripped offline due to 'LP turbine issues' in August 2025.
Some leading indicators of possible volatility in NSW on Thursday evening 24th September 2025
A quick look forward (past the forecast LOR1) to tomorrow evening in NSW, Thursday 25th September 2025.
A quick review of AEMO direction for System Strength in NSW back on Thu 28th August 2025
With the need for an early morning direction flagged for NSW on Thursday 25th September 2025, we take a quick look back 4 weeks ago (to Thursday 28th August 2025) when it happened.