Villain #6–reaching for (or believing in) a “Magic Wand”
We've noted what seems to be an increasing tendency of all of us to reach for some form of "magic wand" as a cure-all for the vexed challenges...
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.
Too much solar? For whom exactly?
Recently there have been a number of media reports of energy industry people talking about too much solar. One of our guest authors takes a look.
Villain #5 – not focusing on the real problems
Fifteen months after first speaking at Clean Energy Summit about the train wreck that's ongoing in terms of our mismanaged energy transition (and coincident with another industry gathering...
Lessons from the trenches – 10 tips for new entrant generation developers
Through our consulting business, Greenview Strategic Consulting, we have had the pleasure of working with a variety of new entrants and NEM-veteran organisations alike in the generation sector...
Villain #4 – the yawning gap between our Sector-Wide Aggregate “Energy Literacy” and what we require
A year after I first spoke about "Villains" playing a role in the train wreck of our energy transition, I've finally found some time to post about Villain...
Further thoughts on the emergence of the “Solar Correlation Penalty”
Some further thoughts on what we've termed a "Solar Correlation Penalty" which point-view of some specific dispatch intervals seems to suggest is occurring
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
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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.