A Quick Tour of the 2021 ESOO
Guest author, Allan O’Neil, takes an initial look at some of the highlights included in the AEMO’s Electricity Statement of Opportunities for 2021 (a 10-year forecast for what might unfold in the future of the NEM).
energy transition
Two Wrongs Don’t Make a REZ
Tom Geiser discusses transmission access and the efficacy of Renewable Energy Zones. He examines what the underlying problems are and how they can be solved directly.
Spot price volatility on Sunday 11th July 2021 – straight out of Angela Macdonald-Smith’s article!
Straight out of the pages of the FinReview and into spot price outcomes in the NEM on Sunday 11th July 2021!
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 2021).
Ranking solar farm FCAS costs in the NEM in 2020
Following recent articles on spot market revenue earned by solar farms in the NEM in 2020, Marcelle takes a look at their FCAS costs.
Large-scale solar farm revenue in 2020 part 2 – considering LGCs
Marcelle extends last week’s comparison of solar farm energy spot market revenue in 2020 by adding in an estimate of the LGC (green certificate) revenue.
A Comparison of Large-Scale Solar Farm Revenue in 2020
Which solar farms performed best in 2020? Marcelle compares spot revenue performance across the NEM.
Another QLD dispatch price spike as the sun sets (today on Sun 14th March 2021)
In what’s become a fairly regular occurrence the past couple months, the price spiked in QLD for a single dispatch interval as the sun was setting.
100% Renewables – A year in practice
Adam Clarke from The City of Newcastle local government publishes this detailed look at what operating on a 100% renewable electricity contract looks like in practice, a year on.
Will the traditional ‘Peak’ contract be another casualty of this Energy Transition?
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 SA regions. What does this tell us about a market view of the energy transition?
Pain at AGL Energy … part 2
Following last week’s ASX & Media Release, this week’s half-year results presented by AGL Energy has more questions being asked. Here are some …
New Sources of Strength
Guest author Allan O’Neil puts together an in-depth explainer about system strength and looks at the current approach to system strength management in South Australia, its impacts and the imminent installation of synchronous condensers on the SA grid.
Transition Fooled?
Through the lens of the GSD2020, Allan O’Neil looks at the much-discussed role of gas-fired generation in the ‘energy transition’ of the NEM’s generation sector
Maximising the benefit of renewables with an intelligent energy management system
Following a presentation to the EESA in September, Dr Robert May and Ashley Nicholls from SA Water have written a case study detailing the sophisticated energy management system that they have developed over the past 7 years.
Increasing the transparency and correctness of intermittent generation availability information to AEMO
Following up to AEMO’s recent Intermittent Generator forum, Marcelle looks at the challenges for wind and solar farms in providing consistently good plant availability information to AEMO and the value of transparency of this data.
Wind and solar transactions: What to buy in the new-year sales
David Leitch & Ben Willacy of ITK Services provide an overview of the wind and solar assets in the NEM that are currently up for sale
NSW renewable energy plan seals death warrant for six gigawatts of coal
David Leitch and Ben Willacy of ITK Services provide analysis of the NSW Government’s recently announced renewable energy plan.
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 than is being addressed here.
Questions prompted by that chart from the ‘Renewable Integration Study’
Patricia Boyce examines a chart that was included in the AEMO’s Renewable Integration Study, which depicted actual and modelled solar and wind generation output against underlying demand. She then looks at whether intermittent generators can achieve sufficient return and discusses the problems that still need to be solved.
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 through summer 2019-20.