Ancillary Services Matter! No longer just realm of electrical engineer or energy trading boffins, ancillary services (and particularly Frequency Control Ancillary Services or FCAS which will concentrate on today) have become front and centre in so many ways that barely a day goes by without market observers referring to grid stability, inertia or frequency management.
When markets operate normally, a sharp rise in the price of any commodity triggers a boom in exploration, development and new supply. But this is not seeming to happen in response to high domestic gas prices. In this article, guest author (Graeme Bethune) examines why.
Last Friday’s events took South Australia much closer to the brink of another Black System event than many seem to have realised
New South Wales recently experienced a severe heatwave, which saw parts of the state exceed 45°C. During this three day period, small solar PV (i.e. PV systems that are not registered as generators in the NEM), generated about 17 GWh of power.
NSW demand rose to a near-record high on Friday the 10th of February, and QLD soared to a new record demand on that Sunday, amidst an intense heatwave. While this heat-stressed our electricity markets and infrastructure, the nation’s rooftop solar PV systems were providing critical load reduction under plentiful sunshine.
Load shedding in South Australia on Wednesday 8 February and successive ‘close shaves’ in NSW and Queensland as the heatwave spread north have exposed serious weaknesses in the national electricity market (NEM).
A summary timeline of how last Friday’s “white knuckle ride” in NSW evolved, highlighting key events on the day.
Some thoughts by our guest author, about possible reasons why Engie did not bid full output of Pelican Point power station into AEMO on Wednesday 8th February (i.e. the time at which load shedding eventuated).
A look at the supply/demand fundamentals in South Australia and explaining why load shedding was initiated.
Hot weather in Adelaide and Melbourne driving an interesting outlook for Thursday
One of the more recent developments we’ve observed in the NEM is the downward trend in gas powered generation, raising concerns as to whether there is more pain to come for east coast industrial consumers.
Very high demands in NSW and “more of the same” in Queensland saw significant price volatility yesterday, with the two states behaving like one larger NEM region
A volatile couple of days in Queensland, with demand response evident
Extremely hot weather in NSW and the NEM’s underappreciated “rail gauge mismatch” contributed to a sharp multi-state price spike during the afternoon peak
Quick review of an isolated early morning spike in Queensland
A look at last Friday’s short sharp price spike in Queensland and why it led to negative settlement residues on the interconnection with NSW
Electricity consumption in the National Electricity Market (NEM) increased by 0.8% in 2016, this is on top of a 1.1% increase in 2015. Queensland and NSW experienced increases in consumption with all other states experiencing a reduction.
One of the most disruptive impacts on Australia’s electricity system over the past decade or so has been the rapid uptake of air conditioners – a consumer driven response to the introduction of inexpensive products from China.
Transformation in the electricity industry is occurring at an astounding rate. What’s more, it’s happening globally and Australia is pretty much ground zero. As a result, a new energy ecosystem is emerging. Accenture has recently released three reports which cover different aspects of this new ecosystem. These are the ‘New Energy Consumer’ report, ‘Digitally Enabled Grid’ report and the combined report for the ENA and CSIRO titled ‘Insights from Global Jurisdictions and Evolving Business Models’.
Our guest author, Rob Davis, provides insights on how weather patterns are contributing to electricity consumption this winter – particularly in Victoria.