Analysis of my home battery + solar system’s first year performance
Guest author, Andrew Wilson, reviews the performance of his home solar + battery system at the one year mark after installation.
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5-minute settlement – Why it makes such a difference to utility scale storage in Australia’s National Electricity Market
Guest author, Warwick Forster, examines the delayed but impending move to 5-minute settlement for the NEM and the potential effects on utility scale storage.
Mapping the impact of COVID-19 on electricity demand in Victoria
Jill Cainey from Energy Networks Australia maps the impact of COVID-19 on residential and business energy consumption in Victoria.
Why controlling residential solar inverters is more complicated than it appears
SwitchDin’s Joseph Kassouf examines the real-world challenges of coordinating control of rooftop solar inverters.
DER Visibility and Monitoring Best Practice Guide – real time data is key to industry growth
Several stakeholders within the DER industry have come together to publish a best practice guide specifying the data required to enable aspects of the next iteration of our electricity network. Our guest author, Stefan Jarnason of Solar Analytics, writes about the need for real time DER data and explains aspects of the guide.
Why Have Home Battery Forecasts Been Staggeringly Wrong For Years?
Ronald Brakels looks at the state of the home battery market and reflects on how past predictions of its evolution look in hindsight.
UQ presents webinar on the Q1 performance of their 1.1MW Tesla battery
The University of Queensland’s project team that was involved with the installation and operations of their 1.1MW Tesla battery presented a webinar and exhaustive Q&A on the first results of the project.
Small Solar Should Embrace Control
Tom Geiser, Senior Market Manager at Neoen, discusses the merits of proportional, relative control on the issue of small solar curtailment.
Can batteries replace ‘cap’ contracts to hedge customer load? A case study from Q1 2020
Guest author, Andrew Wilson, presents a case study of the performance and results from the University of Queensland’s 1.1MW Tesla Powerpack system during Q1 2020.
Quarterly Renewables Wrap – Q1 2020
Ben Willacy of ITK Services provides his quarterly update on renewable project connection, commissioning, construction and commitment activity for Q1 2020.
Do you know the difference between Virtual Inertia and Fast Frequency Response?
Our guest author Stephen Sproul looks at how the Dalrymple Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), currently the only source of virtual inertia on the NEM, responded to the November 2019 SA islanding event.
ICYMI – COAG EC flags reliability framework changes
Guest author, Allan O’Neil tries to piece together further detail of what is intended with the apparent tightening of the Reliability Standard (which has sat at 0.002% USE for many years).
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.
January 31 Followup – How did the lights stay on in South Australia?
Guest author, Allan O’Neil delves further into understanding what happened in response to the transmission tower failures on 31st January 2020 that sent system frequency in South Australia and led to a large reversal of flows.
Understanding the NEM through the lens of the GSD 2019
Jonathon Dyson, Director of Greenview Strategic Consulting and co-developer of the Generator Statistical Digest 2019, uses insights from the GSD to illustrate the nuances of generation in the NEM as it goes through a major transition.
Selected initial observations from the Generator Statistical Digest 2019
Guest author, David Leitch, in his first article here on WattClarity, walks through some of what first jumps out to him in his initial review of the Generator Statistical Digest 2019.
What lies ahead for the NEM in 2020? Some lessons from 2019
Guest author, Ben Willacy, takes a first look at the Generator Statistical Digest 2019 and highlights a few initial observations relating to the performance of wind, solar and storage in this energy transition.
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.
What is the RRO and why has the South Australian Energy Minister just triggered it?
Perhaps missed amongst all the bushfire-related action in the NEM, the SA Minister for Energy last week initiated the Retailer Reliability Obligation. Guest author Allan O’Neil tries to come to grips with what this means, and what happens next?
Operating under siege
We take a look at challenges for AEMO in operating the system under the security threats posed by the ongoing bushfires …