High Prices and Low Reserves in NSW
An illuminating view of the NEM during the high NSW prices on 31st October 2008, illustrated with screenshots and a dynamic video from the new NEM-Watch v8.
high prices
VOLL Pricing on 23rd July 2008
It appears that we spoke too soon when we mentioned on the 22nd July that winter 2008 had been relatively uneventful. Just over 24 hours from making these comments, we saw prices jump sky-high...
Volatility in the market over winter 2007
Our Managing Director spoke at the "Australian Energy & Utility Summit 08" in Sydney on Tuesday 22nd July 2008, touching on issues including the extremes of price volatility that were experienced over winter 2007.
“Power Prices Jump in Eye of the Storm”, from the AFR
Following from an alert to the situation provided by NEM-Watch, Duncan Hughes published an article "Power Price Jump in Eye of the Storm" that mentioned the extremely low levels of NEM-Wide Instantaneous Reserve Plant...
Analysis of price volatility in the QLD region over summer 2007-08
Our Managing Director was asked to speak at the "Queensland Energy" conference in Brisbane on Wednesday 12th March - specifically addressing the topic of price volatility in the NEM. To provide the basis of...
22nd and 23rd February 2008 – a rare hot spell in Queensland
In Queensland we experienced one of the mildest summers I can remember. As a result of this, demand levels were subdued for most of summer. However, for a couple of days in late February,...
Background information to the shortage of capacity in winter 2007
Following from the interest generated in the article published in the AFR, we completed some analysis of the trend in IRPM over the history of the NEM up until June 2007. The results of...
Winter 2007 – NEM-wide shortage of capacity
For two remarkable winter evenings in 2007 (19th and 20th June specifically) NEM-Wide Instantaneous Reserve Plant Margin (IRPM) plunged to the lowest levels ever seen in the NEM (a mere 7.6%) as generators were...
11th January 2007 – first spike in demand above 30,000MW
There was a temperature-driven spike in demand across the NEM later in the week beginning Sunday 7th January - culminating in the summer's first demand peak above 30,000MW (on Thursday 11th January). On this...
8th December 2006 – high demand in South Australia
There was a temperature-driven spike in demand in South Australia on Friday 8th December 2006. However, demand also spiked on other days in the week, and on those occasions did not lead to the...
7th December 2005 – high demand in Queensland and NSW
For several days in early December, temperatures reaching 40 degrees in Queensland and New South Wales cause airconditioning load (and hence total demand) to soar in both regions. The high demands resulted in very...
26th January 2006 – high demand and price in Victoria and SA
There was a high level in demand in Victoria on Thursday 26th January 2006. This was especially remarkable, considering that it was an Australia Day public holiday - when commercial (though not industrial or...
2nd February 2006 – price spike in NSW and Queensland
This week saw a new record demand in NSW of 13,292MW on Thursday 2nd February. Correspondingly, average prices were above $100/MWh in both NSW and Queensland - but the price spikes did not transfer...
24th February 2006 – price spikes in Victoria
Demand in Victoria peaked again, bringing with it high prices in Victoria and (to a lesser extent) South Australia. Indeed, the demand experienced in Victoria (on Friday 24th February) exceeded the previous high level...
7th February 2006 – price spike in Tasmania
This week saw very low average prices across the NEM (below $21/MWh average across the week in all mainland regions). Except for 2 half-hours in Tasmania on Tuesday 7th February (when the price rose...
23rd January 2006 – new record for peak NEM-Wide demand
Based on forecasts NEMMCO had been providing through their PASA process, we expected that it might prove that this week would deliver huge demand levels, and high prices. Not to disappoint, the market did...
Weekly summary of events in Summer 2005-2006
Summer 2005-06 saw Australians sweltering in temperatures 40 degrees and above. In the National Electricity Market, this led to new peaks in demand and (given the tight supply/demand balance) delivered high (and volatile) spot...
3rd January 2006 – Outages force QLD price to VOLL
The week started with commotion in Queensland, when the VOLL price ceiling was reached. Further analysis revealed that this was due to transmission system events and the trip of several generation units within Queensland.