One of 12 articles on the months past in the NEM - covering notable events of March, such as the unforgettable South Australian heatwave of 2008 which caused the Cumulative Price to reach the Cumulative Price Threshold for the first time in our memory.
One of 12 articles on the months past in the NEM. Here we present a detailed analysis of prices in each region of the NEM, for the month of April over the past 10 years.
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 in the mainland regions, and go the other way (to the...
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.
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 Margin (IRPM) that had occurred for a 60-minute period over both...
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 discussion during the conference, we focused our analysis solely on 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, summer finally arrived, and struck with a vengeance.
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 this analysis revealed that at no time before 2007 had the...
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 caught short of capacity by a cold snap that hit earlier...
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 occasion, the spot price spiked above $1000/MWh in Queensland, NSW, Snowy...
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 price spikes seen on the Friday.
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 high prices being experienced in both QLD and NSW (and also...
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 residential) demand could be expected to be somewhat lower than would...
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 to the southern regions.
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 of 8,552MW for summer, set in January 2006. Our analysis looked...
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 deliver high levels of demand in all regions: (a) Peak demand...
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 market pricing. Here we have compiled a weekly summary of events...
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.