New hedging options emerge in the NEM as the energy transition accelerates
Our guest author, Dave Guiver from ERM Power, outlines some new options for hedging in relation to the influx of many new large-scale solar PV projects
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.
Just because a company wears a “green halo”, that does not mean it can disrespect its potential customers [UPDATED]
An advertisement seen on TV in recent days from a (relatively) new entrant in the energy sector reinforces, to me, the need for the energy sector more broadly to do a much better job of respecting its prospective customers.
Power System Frequency – What is it doing? – Why does it matter?
The East Coast power system of Australia has the worst frequency regulation in the developed world. This puts the system at risk whenever an event occurs which requires the generators to respond quickly – they can’t respond quickly if they have to wait for the system frequency to go outside its control system dead band.
Short term forecasting of wind power plant generation for the provision of ancillary services
As NEM wind power plants progressively work towards implementing FCAS, the criticality of ensuring that the power system either a) takes account of the variability in the wind forecasts coming from the wind power plants in the coming 5-7 minutes and follows the wind direction, or b) sets an appropriate dispatch level to ensure wind variability is minimized, becomes even more important for market and power system operators.
Let’s Keep Talking About FCAS
Following on from the Let’s Talk About FCAS post, the focus of this post is the business case and subsequent optimisation challenge for getting involved in FCAS, now that the technical performance components have been mostly addressed.
Grandfathers Axe or Low Hanging Fruit?
Upgrading our existing coal thermal fleet to increase efficiency and flexibility could provide a cost-effective opportunity to add dispatchable capacity and lower the overall carbon intensity of our electricity sector.
Villain #3 – those at either extreme of the Emotion-o-meter
It seems to us that the people at either extreme of the Emotion-o-meter are causing this energy transition to see-saw off the tracks. For this reason they are Villain #3.
How does frequency regulation help avoid Blackouts?
What are the lessons about frequency regulation that can be learned from the SA blackout?
It’s complete baloney to claim that there’s “less than 1%” of peak demand in the NEM that is currently providing Demand Response
Some quick thoughts (before I run out of time) about why it’s all-too-commonly (but mistakenly) stated that there’s not much Demand Response in the NEM
If you increase your consumption of energy at a time when average emissions intensity is low, you’re not necessarily doing a good thing for the environment
A quick note about the need to avoid focusing on average emissions intensity (for the wrong reasons) and losing sight of the fact that it’s the emissions intensity of the next marginal unit of production that should be used for making short-term consumption decisions (if the objective is reducing your environmental footprint, as an energy user).
Some simple calculations to help get my head around the scale of the numbers pertaining to Battery Storage
Some quick calculations performed today to help me try to understand what the future might hold, in terms of battery storage (given I’ve been asked to talk batteries today at the National Consumer Roundtable on Energy).
Following up, with a top-down (NEM-wide) look at daily solar production (small and large) through 2017
Following on from my earlier post about my own experiences as a small power generator (with solar PV at home), I’ve taken a broader look at solar PV production NEM-wide, including over the corresponding “stormy weather” period of October highlighted in the prior article.
No Guarantee of Success
Our guest author, Allan O’Neil, poses a number of questions about the recently proposed “National Energy Guarantee” (NEG)
Villain #2 – we, the voting public
My sense is that we, the voting public, are Villains #2 in running the energy transition train off the tracks.
Villain #1 – our Emperors (present, past and would-be) have no clothes
First up in our listing of Villains in relation to the unfolding energy crisis are, of course, our political leaders – State and Federal, past, present and prospective.
A long list of Villains – that have each contributed to our “energy crisis”
A multi-layered energy crisis is upon us. I’ve identified 10 “root causes” (or “villains”) that have each played key roles in the way in which our energy transition has run off the rails.
Comparison between Liddell Power Station (in NSW) with Muja A&B Power Station (in WA)
Some quick thoughts about the comparison being made by others between two ageing coal-fired power stations (Liddell power station in NSW and the Muja A&B stations in the SWIS of WA)
Is the market, that wasn’t broken, now dead?
Guest author, Andrew Bonwick, posts his thoughts on a range of challenges confronting us in this energy transition.
Using this train analogy to critique some recent developments with Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS)
[PART 2 of] a post by guest author, Bruce Miller – which was initially posted on LinkedIn as one piece, but which has been broken into two on WattClarity as each part serves different purposes.
Why is wind production being curtailed (or “dispatched down”, more strictly speaking)?
It was inevitable that Semi-Scheduled plant would start to experience times when they are dispatched down. It’s a big prompt to take next steps up the learning curve.