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.
This morning the AEMC has published its final rule focused on clarifying how Semi-Scheduled generators should follow dispatch targets - including in dispatch intervals where prices are negative, and some had been unexpectedly switching...
A brief (and back-dated) article pointing to the confidential “safety net” agreement struck between the VIC Govt and EnergyAustralia to keep Yallourn Power Station operational until mid-2028.
AEMO Market Notice 83206 today notifies the broader market of the rectification work on the Heywood transmission (damaged 13 months ago) to be conducted from Friday morning this week.
Two initial thoughts, following EnergyAustralia's announcement that they will close Yallourn Power Station four years earlier than initially planned (mid-2028).
Prompted by several different conversations offline in early 2021, I've taken a quick look at what have been traded volumes (on ASX) of the traditional 'PEAK' hedge contract for the NSW, QLD, VIC and...
A report released this week by Green Energy Markets and the IEEFA exploring the prospect of accelerated coal closures, has itself caused some ripples...
Watching what's unfolded in Texas over the past 24 hours has been rather disconcerting ... but also prompted questions about the broader energy transition. Here are some thoughts.
Today (Sunday 14th February 2021) 'Scheduled Demand' dropped down again in South Australia - almost setting a new record for 'lowest point since the start of the NEM (excl System Black)'
In the middle of the day today (Fri 12th Feb) VIC Premier Dan Andrews announced a snap lockdown - here's a quick look at how this was (quickly) added into the ST PASA Operational...
As promised in the Intermittent Generation Forum late in 2020, the AEMO has released an important Handbook for operators of Semi-Scheduled (wind and solar) assets.
In this (lengthy) article today, Paul McArdle uses the newly released GSD2020 to take a look at the units that were most frequently impacted by constraints during calendar 2020 - with a view to...
Today AGL Energy announces a big impairment ... with a big chunk related to long-term wind offtake agreements which AGL entered into between 2006 and 2012.
From Monday 1st Feb 2021 the (720-page) Generator Statistical Digest 2020 is more broadly available - here's some of what's in it, and how you can access. Those dozens of clients who had submitted...
A chart we threw together quickly at Beer O'Clock today (from the imminent release of the GSD2020) was worth sharing more broadly on WattClarity today...
Quite a synergistic coincidence today that, at the same time as we are finalizing the release of the GSD2020, we see the AEMO publishes its Quarterly Energy Dynamics for Q4 2020.
Several conversations this week prompted me to update the long-term view of how spot prices have trended over time (in particular because average prices in 2020 were quite different than recent years).