A collection of articles being published on WattClarity over time that analyse and comment on the ongoing (but changing) requirement in the need for firming capacity.
A number of these articles feature analysis of the metric ‘Aggregate Scheduled Target’.
Almost 2.5 years since we released GenInsights21, today we’re publishing this article that contains a precis of the analysis included as Appendix 27 under the title ‘Exploring Wind Diversity’.
Worth noting these three recent news articles from the past 8 days, all pertaining to the slated closure of the Eraring Power Station as early as 19th August 2025 (under 18 months away), but reporting different perspectives.
A 2nd short article falling out of GenInsights Quarterly Updates for 2023 Q4. This one looks at Sunday 12th November 2023 and shows the lowest point in 2023 for NEM-wide Aggregate Scheduled Target (and the largest ramp in Q4).
A short article looking at Friday 8th December 2023 looking at NEM-wide Aggregate Scheduled Target on the day.
Nick Bartels from Greenview Strategic Consulting uses the GSD2023 to examine minimum and maximum generation levels at various coal and gas plants in the market.
A brief record, using ez2view, of the very early output data for EnergyAustralia’s Tallawarra B station.
A bout of severe weather for many parts of south-eastern Australia brought challenging weather conditions which appear to have impacted variable renewable energy forecasts for the NEM. The case study delves into forecast differences on the 7th, 8th and 9th of September 2023.
The first part of a Case Study looking at a large 5-minute ramp in ‘Aggregate Scheduled Target’ in the middle of the day (an unusual time) on Friday 8th September 2023
The Media Release from the NSW Department of Energy on 22nd November 2023 noting 1,075MW of new firming capacity in NSW – targeting operational date of December 2025.
In his second article about the 2023 ESOO, guest author Allan O’Neil takes a look at what the AEMO has published with respect to various options for firming capacity to increase the reliability of aggregate supply to below the two thresholds (the Reliability Standard and the Interim Reliability Standard)
In this article we delve in deeper on Thu 30th Jan and Fri 31st Jan 2020 … two days that saw extreme levels of ‘Aggregate Scheduled Target’ (i.e. AggSchedTarget – a requirement for firming capacity). A timely review, given two developments arriving tomorrow (on Thursday 31st August 2023).
On Friday last week (4th August 2023) the proposed design of the ‘Capacity Investment Scheme’ was published … with submissions requested before Thursday 31st August 2023.
In conjunction with the analysis done to complete GenInsights Quarterly Update for Q1 2023 (released today), here’s 14 years of daily data of ‘Aggregate Scheduled Target’ that might help to illustrate the aggregate requirement for fully dispatchable capacity of some type as the closure of coal accelerates into the future.
With completion of GenInsights Quarterly Update for Q1 2023 approaching, and following some conversations recently (and probably this week at EUAA Conference) here are two charts looking backwards just at fully dispatchable plant that highlight one of the ways in which ‘the level of risk in the NEM is escalating’.
Guest author, Nick Bartels, follows on from his article last week to see what the GSD2020 can inform of the challenges AGL Energy is facing with Bayswater, Liddell and Loy Yang A coal-fired power stations
Guest author, Nick Bartels, compares calendar year results from GSD2020 to those in the earlier GSD2019 to explore how some thermal units in QLD and SA are changing operating patterns as part of the energy transition
Some operations at Stanwell Power Station unit 1 in the past couple weeks caught our attention, and are presented as a useful illustration of some concepts related to flexibility of power generators (in this case, coal-fired power).