An interesting day in the NEM today, with prices gyrating across a wide spectrum, and across all four mainland regions – on the back of higher demand in Victoria and South Australia due to temperatures there, and supported by transmission issues and other factors.
Three images from NEM-Watch highlighting extremes of pricing in the Queensland region of the National Electricity Market today – illustrating the volatility, and hence the opportunities for Demand Side Response.
An illustration of the high demand and volatility on Tuesday 1st February.
Some snapshots of a day in which NEM-wide demand soared, driven by high temperatures across the middle of Australia.
A listing of some drivers for higher (and, in some cases, lower) prices in the wholesale spot component of the NEM.
A record of how a day of see-sawing prices appeared (in real time) in NEM-Watch
Note that the high prices have since been revised, but the low prices (down to -$1000/MWh) remain, at least for now.
On the 4th of February at around 11am energy users in NSW appear to have curtailed their load in response to high prices, resulting in a significant drop in demand. Simultaneously, network conditions and generator rebidding caused the NSW pool price to jump back and forth between extreme prices close to VOLL ($10,000/MWh) and the Market Floor Price (-$1,000/MWh).
A few snapshots and quick notes about a very hot spring day in the NEM, with demand soaring, IRPM dropping across the market, and prices at VOLL in NSW
A look-back at 11 years of NEM history to reveal the nature and measure of benefits large industrial energy users can gain from curtailability in the NEM
For only the third occasion in the 10 1/2 years that the NEM has been operational, the Cumulative Price Threshold (CPT) has been reached. Yesterday evening, the CPT was reached in the Tasmanian region.
One of 12 articles on the months past in the NEM – investigating the trends and significant events in the National Electricity Market during November.
One of 12 articles on the months past in the NEM. Here we examine the trends in price and demand across the NEM for September, and take a closer look at the effects of the 2007 drought on this particular month.
One of 12 articles on the months past in the NEM – in which we examine the trends in price and demand across the NEM for the month of May.
One of 12 articles on the months past in the NEM. For January we revisit events such as the fires at Moomba in 2004 (which curtailed gas supplies from central Australia); and the blackout on 16th January 2007 which drove the price to VOLL in Victoria.
One of 12 articles on the months past in the NEM. February has seen multiple price spikes over the years often as a result of high demand caused by the summer heat, but also during times of surplus available generation capacity.
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 negative price cap) in Tasmania.
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 days.