Three of the common building blocks within the National Electricity Market
This article is a first step into exploring some of the complexities within three of the commonly used time-steps across the NEM.
Energy Literacy
A collation of articles here pertaining to energy literacy.
About System Frequency
The NEM operates at a frequency of 50 hertz (Hz) which means the alternating current should cycle 50 times a second between positive and negative voltage.
NEMDE nightmares – parallel pathways and clashing constraints
Prompted by a question by a client in a training session for a new ez2view user, guest author Allan O'Neil has written 2,940 words to explain the price outcome in one particular dispatch interval for one particular region (19:05 on Tuesday 11th February 2025 in...
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.
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.
AEMO publishes update to ‘Guide to Mis-Pricing Information’ in conjunction with IESS
On 1st August 2024 the AEMO approved for distribution version 5 of the document 'Guide to Mis-Pricing Information' with reference to the IESS go-live on 3rd June 2024. Hence the date of this article referencing the document.
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...
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 over-simplistic metric
Dan outlines why capacity factor is becoming an increasingly blunt metric for comparing unit performance, and begins unpacking the technical, operational, and commercial factors that need to be considered when assessing 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.