Price volatility on Monday 17th May 2021 … as expected (part 1?)
Was speaking with someone this morning about the expectation that there would be price volatility this evening, and the market obliged. It’s only just started, but here’s the...
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.
Exploring several categories of Stakeholder in ‘Generator Insights 2021’
In our development of GenInsights21, we're exploring ways to also include some analysis of different types of stakeholders in the generation process. In this article we outline a...
Moving from mandatory PFR to an arrangement that’s more durable
A quick synopsis of some market reforms at the AEMC relating to system frequency.
Observations of differences in system frequency in the Mainland NEM (comparing 2019 to 2021)
One of the many data sets being crunched as part of our analytical efforts underpinning the development of 'GenInsights21' is system frequency. In this short article today, we...
Prices skyrocket across all 4 mainland regions on Wednesday 12th May
Spot prices spiked across mainland regions this evening - firstly at 17:55 (above $1,000/MWh). and then at 18:00 (up towards $15,000/MWh). Here's a first look.
Liddell unit 3 to close in 11 months time … on 1st April 2022?
Saw an update from the AER this evening pertaining to Liddell unit 3, and had a quick look with the power of the Generator Statistical Digest 2020.
Mothballing logic, and reason?
Recent events in the NEM are causing me to wonder whether we've suspended logic, and reason, in charting a workable course through this energy transition?
Where’d the wind go, during the last week of April?
Over the week that has just passed we kept noticing production from wind farms across the NEM was fairly muted - so we've had a look at what...
ESB releases Options Paper on post 2025 market design … is it a ‘NEM 2.0’ design to get us beyond 2040?
A quick note to alert our readers that the ESB has published an Options Paper today on the post 2025 Market Design (with submissions due Wed 9th June...
Rainfall in northern Queensland contributes to price spike at 15:55 on Tuesday 20th April 2021
In between other jobs today, we've taken a look at why the price spiked yesterday (Tue 20th April) in QLD ... at an earlier time than we had...
Announcing development of ‘Generator Insights 2021’, and inviting your pre-order
As alluded to in several recent articles, we have underway a process for updating the ~180 page analytical component included in the Generator Report Card 2018 (released 23...
How reversion to static line rating in the ‘Q>>NIL_CLWU_RGLC’ constraint equation contributed the price spike on Sunday 24th January 2021 (Part 4)
More time has elapsed since 'Part 3' on 24th March - today I'm posting a shorter piece (Part 4) that explains how RHS of the ‘Q>>NIL_CLWU_RGLC’ constraint equation...
Cyclone in Western Australia douses solar production in South Australia on Tue 13th April 2021
Looking back at Tuesday 13th April 2021 - a day in which the ex-tropical cyclone Seroja in Western Australia caused some wobbles in rooftop solar PV output in...
New all-time record Wind Output across the NEM last night (5,430MW at 23:55 on Tuesday 13th April 2021)
David Osmond's question on Twitter prompted me to have a look at large wind production overnight.
A quick review of the price spike in QLD at 14:35 on Friday 9th April 2021
Reminded by today's spikes, here's a quick look at a similar price spike that occurred yesterday (14:35 on Friday 9th April 2021 in the QLD region).
Several QLD price spikes on Saturday 10th April 2021
Three price spikes in the QLD region on Saturday 10th April 2021 help to remind us that how increasingly dependent we are on various machinations of the weather...
The ‘GSD2020 Data Extract’ is now available
Following a number of requests from our clients, we are pleased to note that a GSD2020 Data Extract is now available.
Piecing together what happened on Sunday 24th January 2021 with the ‘Q>>NIL_CLWU_RGLC’ constraint equation (Part 3)
It's taken a while to find the time - but today I'm posting this next analytical piece (Part 3) that seeks to understand what happened on Sunday 24th...
AEMO publishes Preliminary Incident Report about incident on Friday 12th March in South Australia
A short article this afternoon to link through to the Preliminary Report published by the AEMO, looking into what happened in South Australia last Friday (12th March 2021).
Preliminary information on loss of SCADA data – for Case Study 24th January 2021 in Queensland
Two months ago prices spiked in QLD on a Sunday afternoon when AEMO lost SCADA data feed. One month ago AEMO published a preliminary report. In the background...