A brief reminder about the complexity of measuring ‘Demand’ …
There’s essentially three measures of demand that are commonly talked about, and they are not really interchangeable.
Read MoreEnergy Literacy
A collation of articles here pertaining to energy literacy.
Opening the black box: A beginner’s guide to wholesale market modelling (Part 3)
Oliver Nunn and his team at Endgame Economics have written this introductory three-part guide to market modelling in the NEM. This is Part 3: “Defense against the dark arts”
Opening the black box: A beginner’s guide to wholesale market modelling (Part 2)
Oliver Nunn and his team at Endgame Economics have written this introductory three-part guide to market modelling in the NEM. This is Part 2: “Operational dispatch modelling”
Opening the black box: A beginner’s guide to wholesale market modelling (Part 1)
Oliver Nunn and his team at Endgame Economics have written this introductory three-part guide to market modelling in the NEM. This is Part 1: “Building the Arena”
An inter-regional interconnector refers to *the whole of* the transmission path between RRNs
We already noted this a few times recently, but we thought it would be worth separating out as its own article under the ‘Energy Literacy’ category, as it’s likely we’ll be referring back to it increasingly in future.
Managing an electricity portfolio in the NEM
Warwick Forster of Apogee Energy explains how retail and generator hedging works within a portfolio.
A handy reminder from the BOM about why QLD is feeling so hot – on Saturday 27th January 2024
A timely reminder from the BOM of why ‘Apparent Temperature’ can be significantly higher than ‘Actual Temperature’ … such as across QLD on Saturday 27th Jan 2024 (and also Mon 22nd Jan 2024).
Policy implications now and for the transition
The third and final part of this series of articles from Greg Williams about opportunity costs in electricity markets – this time narrowing in on policy implications.
Why generation offers diverge from variable cost
In the second part of this three part series, Greg Williams explains how fuel cost scarcity, inflexibilities, opportunity costs and other factors affects generator bids/offers.
The effect of opportunity cost on wholesale prices in the NEM
Guest author, Greg Williams provides the first part of a three-parter about costs in the NEM. In part one here he explains modelling opportunity costs and the value of ‘the next best alternative’.
Measurement timeframes for Raise Contingency FCAS … from the MASS Version 8
Because we’ll be referring back to it in future, we’ve lifted out Figure 8 from the MASS version 8 (p36/39) and included it here in this belated (and back-dated) article
What inputs and processes determine a semi-scheduled unit’s availability
It is indispensable to understand how the semi-scheduled unit availability gets produced to optimally manage the critical inputs and comprehend dispatch outcomes. This article explains the key inputs and processes, focusing on the dispatch timeframe.
Let’s talk about Inertia
Inertia is an important concept to understand as the technology mix in the NEM evolves during the energy transition. In this article, Jonathon Dyson talks about the importance of inertia and highlights an example of a specific incident where we observed relatively low levels of inertia in the NEM.
How dispatch works … it’s much more than just a bid stack
New guest author, Ryan Esplin progressively builds a more precise model of the NEMDE dispatch process to illustrate why the stylised ‘Merit Order’ bid stack model is increasingly not enough to explain dispatch and price outcomes in the NEM
Why capacity factor is an increasingly simplistic way to compare solar farm performance
Dan Lee explains why capacity factor could be becoming an increasingly less useful measure for comparing how different solar farms are performing and begins an exploration into some of the factors in play when trying to conduct more comprehensive analysis into generator performance.
Analytical challenge (or beginner mistake!) – understanding the difference between a MW and a MWh
Reposting a portion of an article we published some years ago, to help readers understand the difference between a MW and a MWh.
AER published ‘Semi-Scheduled Generator Compliance Bulletin and Checklist’
A short article about the AER’s publication (on 1st July 2022) of some updated information to help Semi-Scheduled generators understand their obligations.
On the fringes: the outer edges of the NEM remain the most prone to volatile MLFs
To mark the end of the financial year, Dan Lee writes this explainer about MLFs and gives some examples of noticeable long-term MLF trends within the NEM.
Two alternate theories of why capacity was withdrawn
Second (linked) article this evening, spelling out the two theories we’re aware of with respect to why some participants might have withdrawn capacity from the NEMDE dispatch/pricing run in June 2022 – leading to the AEMO Suspending the Market.
Quick review of bids – looking back 16 days over APC and Market Suspension
With Market Suspension (just) behind us, in this weekend article we take a look over the past 16 days to see how volumes offered to the market from the two types of plant have varied … and the prices they are offered at. The question is asked … why did those DUIDs withdraw capacity from the NEMDE dispatch and pricing run?