batteries

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    A look at AEMO pre-dispatch forecasts over the last year

    The Energy Security Board (ESB), under the direction of the National Cabinet, is currently working on a number of changes that will impact how generators connect to and operate within the National Electricity Market (NEM). The Congestion Relief Market (CRM) model is one such change to how the NEM currently...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    “There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza”: but maybe not as big as we think?…

    There has been talk for years about the potential introduction into the National Electricity Market of a “capacity market”, with significant pushback from the industry over the potential for a capacity market to prolong the life of coal and gas and slow decarbonisation of the grid. On Friday last week...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Now we’re peaking with gas: how much evening NEM demand could be replaced with batteries?

    The events leading up to the recent market suspension in June have highlighted the role that peaking gas-fired generation plays in satisfying demand and setting prices across the NEM in the morning and evening peak periods. The team recently explored some of the drivers and effects of these events in...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Round and Round the Market: Black Coal vs Batteries

    This year appears to be the year of the battery, with the volume of projects that have been announced or in some stage of planning approaching the 10GW mark it is worth taking a look at how batteries are performing in the FCAS markets over the last two years. Currently...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Show me the future: can storage bank on FCAS being bankable?

    Previously we have examined the importance in FCAS prices for the revenue stream for batteries. With a growing interest in batteries in the market, this ‘Chart of the week’ takes a deeper look into the impact of bidding behaviour on the Regulation Raise price since 2012. From January 2012 until...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Push it to the limit: the evolution of MPC & market tightness

    With summer officially starting last Tuesday, the National Electricity Market (NEM) is about to go through the season that typically has the highest demand. Market tightness usually seen during summer sometimes pushes power prices to their maximum level – the Market Price Cap (MPC) – currently set at $15,000/MWh. In...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | A tale of two cities: batteries vs pumped hydro & solar vs wind

    On 1 April 2020 the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) released the final Marginal Loss Factors - MLFs - for 2020-21. This week's Chart of the Week looks at how the MLFs have changed and which assets benefited the most. If we look closely at the MLF results over the past...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Distribution networks unDER the pump

    Rooftop solar has grown rapidly over the last decade, numbers indicate that almost 10GW has been installed across the NEM. However, AEMO’s projections indicate that there is still plenty more to come (~4GW over the next decade). The effects of behind-the-meter (BTM) solar on market outcomes are well documented (including...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Guess who’s back… Batteries are back… back again

    We have seen a number of Australian storage projects announced over the past four months. AGL has announced 200MW of storage with Maoneng and a further 100MW in Queensland. Neoen has also announced an upgrade to the Hornsdale Power Reserve (HPR) by another 50MW. This week's Chart of the week is an update...

  • Low carbon generation

    Chart of the week | En-Route to market in 2020?

    Published on the 14 January was the latest update of Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD). In summary, it provided an overview of current and planned green energy projects across Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In this week’s Chart of the week, we look at the government’s Renewable Energy Planning Database. It discusses...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Prices in the NEM: Is variability the new black?

    The price escalation in the NEM in recent years has been well documented. Closure of ‘low-cost’ coal generation (particularly Hazelwood) has seen average prices in the NEM increase significantly. This is a result of the overall supply/ demand balance tightening. Some of this tightness has been alleviated by the significant...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Chart of the week | Charging in: New BM entrants and Wider Access

    While National Grid ESO has been granted a derogation until 30 June 2020 to implement project TERRE; Wider Access, its project to increase accessibility to the Balancing Mechanism (BM), is still scheduled to go-live on 11 December 2019. In this Chart of the Week we analyse recent activity of aggregated units and...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Pumped storage: Silent winners in the energy transition so far?

    Last week’s Chart of the week discussed the price-setter role renewable technologies are increasingly playing in the NEM. Following on, this week’s Chart examines the impact these pricing dynamics are having on pumped storage operations across the market. To run, storage technologies – pumped hydro/ batteries – typically exploit arbitrage...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Where in the market are battery storage revenues?

    Storage is seen as a technology that will solve many of the issues on the grid. This includes providing peaking energy, correcting frequency events and providing network support. In this Chart of the week, we take a look at four battery storage systems currently active in the NEM. These are...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Early coal closure signalled: a sign of things to come?

    The news from Alinta this week that one of Victoria’s largest coal plants - Loy Yang B - is unlikely to see out the full length of its licence should not be a major surprise to the market. The 1.1GW Loy Yang B station has a licence to run until...

  • E-mobility and low carbon

    Pixie Chart of the week | Lower prices forecast in Li-battery market

    In a tally of battery suppliers published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance in its Electric Vehicle Outlook 2018, Panasonic – which provides the cells for Tesla’s electric vehicles (EVs) – has perhaps unsurprisingly come out on top, based on capacity in 2016-17.

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Chart of the week | Battery overload: Storage and the FFR market

    Announcements of new grid-connected battery developments seem to occur on an almost daily basis.  Many of these developers are looking to enter the Firm Frequency Response (FFR) market. This is primarily due to the potential value as well as it suiting the characteristics of batteries. In this week's Chart of...