Derivation of Underlying Demand in NSW on 30th and 31st January and 1st February 2020
Winding back the clock to summer 2019-20 we take a look at (our derivation of) Underlying Demand on Thu 30th Jan, Fri 31st Jan and Sat 1st Feb 2020.
Read MoreSummer 2019-20 in the NEM
Amperon report for AEMO released, exploring attenuation of Large Solar production with bushfire smoke
A short article today, highlighting the release of this Amperon report for AEMO looking at the way in which the performance of some Large Solar Farms in the NEM were affected by bushfire smoke through summer 2019-20.
Four headline challenges amongst a very busy summer 2019-20
My participation in yesterday’s session about ‘Energy Technology – performing under (heat) stress’, organised by the Australian Institute of Energy, was an opportunity to reflect on what I saw as the Four Headline Events that gave example to a great many challenges we will have to grapple with as this energy (and climate) transition gathers pace.
AEMO releases its ‘2019-20 NEM Summer Operations Review Report’
There’s much to consider in today’s publication from the AEMO – which looks in detail at the many challenges they faced through summer 2019-20.
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.
Surviving on the island – again
Another islanding event separated the SA region from the rest of the NEM yesterday (Monday, 2nd of March). Allan O’Neil investigates what happened before the event and possible causes.
Don’t Forget About FCAS!
Guest author, Allan O’Neil, takes a look at what’s happened in the (islanded) market for FCAS services in South Australia over the past two weeks with Heywood out of service. He notes:
“generators in SA as a group would have paid out roughly twice in contingency raise FCAS costs what they earned from selling energy”
Rooftop Solar PV systems did trip in SA on Friday 31st January 2020 in conjunction with the Heywood trip
Investing some time over the weekend with a some higher-speed data on output of rooftop solar PV systems across VIC and SA reveals some interesting observations about what happened on Friday 31st January 2020 in conjunction with the transmission damage and Heywood trip.
January 31 Followup – How did the lights stay on in South Australia?
Guest author, Allan O’Neil delves further into understanding what happened in response to the transmission tower failures on 31st January 2020 that sent system frequency in South Australia and led to a large reversal of flows.
Heat pushes QLD Scheduled Demand within 214MW of the all-time maximum level on 3rd February 2020
It feels like a lifetime ago, already, but I do vaguely remember that we released our Generator Statistical Digest 2019 last week, on Tuesday 28th January 2020. All the tasks that I had scheduled to follow on from that launch…
What happened with System Frequency with the SA Islanding on Friday 31st January 2020?
Cautioning readers that I am a novice at reading frequency data in this manner, I take a first look at how the frequency in Melbourne and South Australia varied at the time of the transmission outage at 13:24:30 on Friday 31st January 2020.
13 headline questions and observations following the long-term islanding, starting Friday 31st January 2020
In order to help us (internally) map out all the different threads to explore in terms of what happened on Friday 31st January 2020 on a remarkable day in the NEM, I’ve identified a few of the key threads here over the weekend. More articles to follow as time permits….
Out of the blue, another LOR2 – NSW region on Saturday 1st February 2020
With the benefit of more data available today, can piece together why there was the sudden drop into LOR2 territory on Saturday 1st February 2020 (something that alarmed me, and resulted in AEMO directing a participant to make capacity – just withdrawn – available again).
Hot weather and high demand continues, with actual LOR1 in NSW region at 13:55 on Saturday 1st February 2020
I’ve snuck into the office on Saturday to start the process of piecing together some of of the different aspects of what happened yesterday to follow on from Friday evening’s short article (this will take quite a while to do…
White knuckle ride across the NEM on Friday 31st January 2020 (extreme NEM-wide demand)
Today (Fri 31 January 2020) saw NEM-wide demand reach levels never seen before (excepting 29th January 2009). This was just the start of the white knuckle ride.
A further look at Thursday Jan 30th
Guest author, Allan O’Neil does a masterful job with limited time in reviewing some of the goings-on in the NEM (particularly VIC and SA) on Thursday 30th January 2020
Buckle in folks, Friday afternoon/evening might be a bit bumpy
Published at 12:02, this is a view looking forward to the expected (very high) peak in electricity demand across the NEM this evening.
Thursday 30th January 2020 sees demand reach 34,257MW and LOR2 notice issued for both VIC and SA
A brief overview of a stressful afternoon/evening in the NEM, where a confluence of events (heatwave-driven high demand, low wind, coal unit trip, etc…) drive LOR2 low reserve condition notice in both VIC and SA, and gear AEMO up to call on Reserve Trader (yet again!)
NEM-wide demand might exceed 34,000MW on Friday evening
A quick look (ahead of time) at what looks set to be a very high level of electricity demand right across the NEM tomorrow evening, Friday 31st January 2020. Just in time for the Australian Open semi-finals.
Factors contributing to events in NSW on Thursday 23rd January 2020 – taking a closer look…
Today I managed to get about half-way (only!) through some analysis I wanted to do to ‘scratch that itch’ about what happened in the NSW Region on Thursday 23rd January – with LOR2 conditions necessitating RERT (Reserve Trader) in the NSW Region.