Early blast of summer drives NSW and QLD prices through the roof
It's not officially summer, yet - but it sure seems like it is across QLD and NSW. High temperatures drive some prices spiking up to the Market Price Cap in both ENERGY and some...
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 Part 5 – Why did those constraint bind – in QLD on Tuesday 13th October 2020?
In part 5 of this expanding Case Study of the unexpected price spike on Tuesday 13th Oct, linked to a large & sudden drop in output across 10 solar farms, we take a detailed...
Low point for demand in Victoria drops still lower on Sunday 1st November 2020
The prior record for 'minimum demand' in Victoria seems to have only lasted 8 short weeks, with the level nudged still lower on a sunny Sunday 1st November 2020 (coincident with a bit more...
AEMC proceeds to fast-track consideration of the AER’s semi-scheduled generator dispatch obligations rule change
A brief note to inform readers that the AEMC is fast-tracking consideration of the AER's Proposed Rule Change on Semi-Scheduled assets ... but also to reinforce our view that the challenge is MUCH broader...
Brief note about NSW price spike on Friday 23rd October 2020
Winding down through Beer O’clock at the end of a long week with the team and the buzzing of my phone distracts to a few successive price spikes this afternoon in the NSW Region:...
AEMO releases ‘Operational management of low demand in South Australia’
On Thursday 22nd October, the AEMO also released a short document titled ‘Operational management of low demand in South Australia'.
Case Study Part 4 – Who did What – in QLD on Tuesday 13th October 2020?
In part 4 of this expanding Case Study of the unexpected price spike on Tuesday 13th Oct, linked to a large & sudden drop in output across 10 solar farms, we take a quick...
With increasing diversity, the low point of instantaneous aggregate Wind Generation across the NEM is nudging away from 0MW
Patricia Boyce' challenging question coincided with the low point of cyclic wind output across the NEM this afternoon, and prompted some thinking...
Case Study Part 3 – digging still deeper, about what happened in QLD on Tuesday 13th October 2020
In part 3 of this expanding Case Study of the unexpected price spike on Tuesday 13th Oct, linked to a large & sudden drop in output across 10 solar farms, we dig deeper to...
Case Study Part 2 – did Rooftop PV kill Large Solar Farm output (and cause the price spike) in QLD on Tuesday 13th October 2020?
Based on some preliminary analysis of the Powerlink's 'Qdata' set (available in ez2view) we present our current hypothesis as to the sequence of the events yesterday in the QLD region, where 600MW of solar...
Case Study part 1 – Queensland price spikes to $15,000/MWh at 09:45 on Tuesday 13th October 2020 … coincident with many Large Solar Farms (tripping**)
Alerted to a price spike at 09:45 this morning in the QLD region, we discovered some reduction in load (spot-exposed Demand Response probably) and also a large collective trip in Solar Farm output (reasons...
Some are waking up to the shortcomings of current methods of support for ‘Anytime/Anywhere Energy’
A couple glimmers of hope spotted recently, that there might be some (belated) awareness that the current methods of support for 'anytime/anywhere energy' are not scalable, or sustainable.
The decline to zero continues… SA demand and whole-of-NEM both drop even lower on Sunday 11th October 2020
Records continue to tumble in the off-season, with the rise of rooftop PV. Both South Australia and Whole-of-NEM hit new low points Sun 11th October 2020.
Incomplete thoughts – potential risks to the NEM in relation to COVID
Only 52 days after I initially envisaged being able to have this article published, a couple things today have prompted me to post this drain-dump of concerns that have been jangling around in my...
Case Study of 16:55 on Monday 8th April 2019 (aggregate Raw Off-Target +318MW for Semi-Scheduled units)
This 20th Case Study (the other side of the weekend to the 19th Case Study) in the series investigates one dispatch interval showing extreme Aggregate Under-Performance across all Semi-Scheduled units on Monday 8th April...
AER releases proposed rule change for Semi-Scheduled generators and dispatch instructions
Following the consultation process conducted by the AER (stemming from their Issues Paper 3 months ago) the AER has today submitted a rule change request to the AEMC relating to Semi-Scheduled generation.
Case Study of 17:05 on Friday 5th April 2019 (aggregate Raw Off-Target +346MW for Semi-Scheduled units)
This 19th Case Study in the series investigates one dispatch interval showing extreme Aggregate Under-Performance across all Semi-Scheduled units on Friday 5th April 2019.
Rooftop PV drives daytime Scheduled Demand even lower than the low point a month ago … lowest level in 16 years on Sunday 27th September 2020
A month on from the prior low point seen for Scheduled Demand (and Operational Demand) across Queensland in the middle of the day, the low point mark is driven lower still on Sunday 27th...
Case Study of two DIs on Monday 25th March 2019 (large collective under-performance across Semi-Scheduled units)
This 18th Case Study in the series investigates two separate dispatch intervals showing extreme collective under-performance across all Semi-Scheduled units on Monday 25th March 2019.
Amperon report for AEMO released, exploring attenuation of Large Solar production with bushfire smoke
A short article today, highlighting the release of this Amperon report for AEMO looking at the way in which the performance of some Large Solar Farms in the NEM were affected by bushfire smoke...