Spot power at $0/MWh in all regions (Sign ‘o the Times*?)
A few thoughts about the dispatch price being at, or below, $0/MWh for a dispatch interval on Sunday afternoon - implications for the future...
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.
A quick look at Mortlake Unit 2 outage
A quick look after the unit trip (including reported explosion) at Mortlake Unit 2
Which was that ‘mystery DUID’ that apparently ‘can’t stand the heat’*?
Returning to the challenge posed to readers in April 2019, to guess (or analytically determine!) which of the hundreds of units operating in the NEM showed such a severe limitation in output at high...
17-year trend of aggregated coal unit unavailability as from the Generator Report Card
Some excerpts from the Generator Report Card to sample some of the analysis we performed to assess various aspects of the 'dependability' of coal-fired power stations in the NEM. In this post we highlight...
Brief comment on the extended outage at Loy Yang A unit 2
Following the notice from AGL Energy on Friday last week about the extended outage occurring at Loy Yang A unit 2, here's some initial thoughts via WattClarity (with more to come as time permits)
Upcoming Q&A sessions on the Generator Report Card
Here's some initial details of upcoming informal Q&A sessions in Melbourne (on Tuesday next week!), followed by Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney - where we'd look forward to meeting with those interested in the Generator...
Five different aspects of assessing the “dependability” of coal-fired power (in the Generator Report Card)
The framework we used to analyse the extent to which coal-fired power is "dependable" in the Generator Report Card, and the extent to which it's been changing.
Some early comments made about the Generator Report Card
A summary of some comments that we've seen in the first few days of the Generator Report Card
Generator Report Card released (on Friday 31st May 2019)
For those who have already pre-ordered their copy, this is how you can access - and for those who have not, but would like a copy, this is how to arrange this as well.
A page for each DUID in (Part 3 of) the Generator Report Card
Worth sharing the level of detail we're going to, in Part 3 of the Generator Report Card (5 parts in total), where we have assembled millions of data points into a single page summarizing...
Degradation of performance at high temperatures
We're taking a much, much deeper dive into generator performance at high temperatures (for all DUIDs operational across the NEM) to see how each one of them, individually, is affected by high temperatures. Guess...
Despite growing diversity of Large Solar farms (NEM-wide), large weather events still have major dampening effects
Sharing a trend of daily capacity factor across all Large Solar plant (post commissioning) in the NEM (preliminary analysis for our Generator Report Card).
About claims that AGL was responsible for the uplift in prices after Hazelwood closed
With another upsurge in interest in the effect of Hazelwood closure on price outcomes in the NEM, we've invested some time to provide these thoughts.
Peak Wind Output in the NEM has climbed above 4000MW
A large block of green (signifying wind) in our NEMwatch dashboard this morning prompts a look at what the all-time maximum production is these days...
A twenty year review of Marginal Loss Factors
Last week the AEMO released a draft of the Marginal Loss Factors (MLFs) that would apply to both generation and loads connected to the NEM. This page on the AEMO site links to more...
The death* of “baseload” and rise of “cycling”
A quick article highlighting how the trend in aggregate number of unit starts, across the whole of the NEM, highlights the scale of one of the core underlying changes (and challenges) facing us in...
Some thoughts about Demand Response, in parallel with AEMC deliberations
A collection of thoughts that have been bumping around in my head for some time about the latest push by various parties to facilitate a broader range of demand response in the NEM, and...
Villain #6c – Demand Response is not a magic wand
A note of caution, that Demand Response is not a magic wand - it *can* achieve a lot, but if can't be assumed to automatically appear to bridge any gap between supply and demand...
Villain #5d – obsessing about Negawatts, when the real objective is (broader) Demand Response
One more example of not focusing on the real problems seems to be a tendency for some to obsess about one narrow type of Demand Response (i.e. dispatch of NegaWatts) whilst seeming to lose...
A brief look back at reactions to negative prices in the 14:30 trading period on Friday 1st March 2019
Yesterday I noted what appeared to be trips of two solar farms - Gannawarra and Karadoc - within a single dispatch interval and coincident with a period of volatile prices. Also yesterday, Dylan McConnell...