Why controlling residential solar inverters is more complicated than it appears
SwitchDin’s Joseph Kassouf examines the real-world challenges of coordinating control of rooftop solar inverters.
Energy Transition
A large collection of articles pertaining to the ongoing ‘Energy Transition’ in any of a number of ways.
Specific sub-categories relate to such things as Coal Closure, and other aspects of the transition.
DER Visibility and Monitoring Best Practice Guide – real time data is key to industry growth
Several stakeholders within the DER industry have come together to publish a best practice guide specifying the data required to enable aspects of the next iteration of our electricity network. Our guest author, Stefan Jarnason of Solar Analytics, writes about the need for real time DER data and explains aspects of the guide.
The rise of the ‘Negawatt Factory’?
My understanding is that the AEMC’s Final Rule relating to the push to implement a ‘Negawatt Dispatch Mechanism’ will be released in the morning. I wonder what the implications will actually turn out to be…
Why Have Home Battery Forecasts Been Staggeringly Wrong For Years?
Ronald Brakels looks at the state of the home battery market and reflects on how past predictions of its evolution look in hindsight.
UQ presents webinar on the Q1 performance of their 1.1MW Tesla battery
The University of Queensland’s project team that was involved with the installation and operations of their 1.1MW Tesla battery presented a webinar and exhaustive Q&A on the first results of the project.
Not as simple as it appears – estimating curtailment of renewable generation
Curtailment seems like a simple concept, until you look closely at the details. In this article, Marcelle looks at how to estimate curtailment at wind and solar farms and explores some of the traps.
Villain no 6d – Diversity is not a magic wand
A few quick words, about the challenges inherent in assessing the benefits of diversity too superficially. It clearly does have some benefits, but it’s not a Magic Wand.
‘Maximising Value in the NEM’, with a particular focus on Large Solar Farms
On Thursday 21st May, Marcelle Gannon and Jonathon Dyson jointly shared a large number of insights and tips to help those interested in developing and/or operating Large Solar Farms in the NEM maximise the value they receive. Useful also for those interested in Wind Farms (i.e. any Semi-Scheduled plant), and also hybrid operations using Batteries.
Recent trends in spot price distribution in QLD
In a sneak preview from the “Maximising Value in the NEM” webinar this Thursday, Marcelle looks at the changing distribution of spot prices in QLD.
Can batteries replace ‘cap’ contracts to hedge customer load? A case study from Q1 2020
Guest author, Andrew Wilson, presents a case study of the performance and results from the University of Queensland’s 1.1MW Tesla Powerpack system during Q1 2020.
Balancing Supply and Demand …. in the fast approaching ‘NEM 2.0’ world
Recent invitations (from COAG Energy Council and AEMO) prompt some further analysis of the data set assembled for the GSD2019 in order to understand more about one of the challenges in balancing Supply and Demand in the NEM 2.0 world.
AEMO releases its first* ‘Renewable Integration Study’ on 30th April 2020
An article today providing links to the ‘Renewable Integration Study’ which the AEMO released today, and also to the headline media coverage I have seen on my quick scan this morning.
Two papers released by COAG Energy Council are early stages in fleshing out ‘NEM 2.0’
Some brief initial thoughts, following the release of two discussion papers by the COAG Energy Council – the first on two-sided markets, and the second seeming to cover two different challenges (forward markets, and ‘Keeping the Lights on Services’).
Observing Easter Saturday, a little belatedly
Guest author, Allan O’Neil, invests some time to explore a number of different aspects of Easter Saturday (11th April 2020), each noteworthy in their own right (including low demand, high percentage share renewables, negative prices and dynamic bidding)
Do you know the difference between Virtual Inertia and Fast Frequency Response?
Our guest author Stephen Sproul looks at how the Dalrymple Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), currently the only source of virtual inertia on the NEM, responded to the November 2019 SA islanding event.
Semi-scheduled Generation Availability Forecasts–how to improve?
In her first article for WattClarity, Marcelle looks at questions raised in the recent summer on the forecasting of performance at high temperatures of wind and solar generators, and asks how AEMO and industry can work together to improve this.
Using the GSD2019 to explore the VALUE of Dispatchability
An article published by AEMC on the ‘value of dispatchability’ provided the spur to return to our intention of freely sharing insights gleaned from the Generator Statistical Digest 2019. Today’s article highlighting the value of dispatchability.
We’ve been killing New Entrants with kindness?
Last week saw more in a growing series of exits, and asset write-downs, amongst new entrants in the supply of renewable energy within the NEM. Today on WattClarity I ponder whether we have been setting them up to fail due to the nature of support provided to these new entrants. What is your perspective?
Review of extremes in ‘Raw Off Target’ performance through 2019, with the Generator Statistical Digest 2019
Using the (hot off the press) Generator Statistical Digest 2019, we take a look across all 304 DUIDs to see how they performed through calendar 2019 in terms of large excesses in ‘Raw Off-Target’ in both directions. These results suggests implications for the future…
What lies ahead for the NEM in 2020? Some lessons from 2019
Guest author, Ben Willacy, takes a first look at the Generator Statistical Digest 2019 and highlights a few initial observations relating to the performance of wind, solar and storage in this energy transition.