FCAS



FCAS goes from fast to very fast

Just under 3 weeks ago (on 22nd April 2021) the AEMC published a draft determination that would establish ‘Fast Frequency Response’ as an additional (i.e. 9th and 10th) FCAS service in the NEM. We take a brief look.


Big Batteries – big issues!

Guest author, Carl Daley, investigates why big batteries weren’t able to fully capitalise on extreme spot prices in SA on Friday 12th March.


Highlights from the 2020 GSD

David Leitch highlights some themes that stuck out to him as he read through this year’s edition of the Generator Statistical Digest – including a look at how batteries are dominating the FCAS market, some surprises with capacity factor, and other things


PPAs aren’t as easy as they used to be!

This is the fourth of a short series of video snippets extracted from the 17th September 2020 presentation by Marcelle Gannon and Jonathon Dyson for the Clean Energy Council entitled ‘Maximising Profitability in the NEM’ for Wind Farms.






Surviving on the island – again

Another islanding event separated the SA region from the rest of the NEM yesterday (Monday, 2nd of March). Allan O’Neil investigates what happened before the event and possible causes.


FCAS Matters – More than ever

Jonathon Dyson of Greenview Strategic Consulting uses the Generator Statistical Digest to highlight FCAS revenue results, contingency recovery and regulation costs for 2019, and help explain why it is critical for us all to understand FCAS.


Don’t Forget About FCAS!

Guest author, Allan O’Neil, takes a look at what’s happened in the (islanded) market for FCAS services in South Australia over the past two weeks with Heywood out of service. He notes:
“generators in SA as a group would have paid out roughly twice in contingency raise FCAS costs what they earned from selling energy”


How Good is Solar Farming?

Guest author, Allan O’Neil, takes a look, via the GSD2019 (released today), at the four different headwinds facing solar farm developers and operators operating in the NEM.






When the NEM’s Largest Generating Unit Trips …

A follow-on to my earlier article of a couple weeks ago, looking at another instance where a team effort was required to counter a drop in system frequency following the loss of generation at a large power station (this time the single unit Kogan Creek power station – the largest single unit in the NEM).