battery

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Spot the spread: Are current battery revenues enough to encourage further investment?

    In AEMO’s ‘Step Change’ scenario, it was estimated that storage capacity in the NEM would need to increase by a factor of 30 between 2022 and 2050 to support a grid transformation that limits temperature rises below 2 degrees. This represents about 13GW of new storage capacity by 2030 and...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Exploring the impact of storage assets on QEJP sensitivities

    Battery storage has great potential to generate high revenues during large market shifts, especially in Queensland (as shown in our previous analysis in Cotw #158). The Queensland government’s recently announced Energy and Jobs Plan (QEJP) would be another big shift as it aims to reduce the state’s reliance on generation...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Patriots ‘Dynasty’ off to a rough start, as New England suffers loss to the MLFs…

    For many, the first of April is marked in calendars as a day for jokes and silly nuisances. For the few, specifically the energy industry, we have it pencilled in for the release of the upcoming year’s Marginal Loss Factors (MLFs). Over the last half-decade, movements in MLFs have received...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Crying over spilled solar – how much can a battery help?

    A standalone battery earns its revenue not only from the arbitrage opportunity between day and night prices but also from participation in FCAS markets. This remains true when the battery is paired with a solar farm but can be complicated by constraints or trade-offs between FCAS participation and solar export....

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Big Battery, even bigger revenues

    The Victorian Big Battery (VBB) in Geelong, Victoria, is currently the largest commissioned battery in the NEM at 300 MW/450 MWh. In Q2 2022, VBB, and its owner Neoen, posted an estimated AEMO wholesale net revenue of just over $13 million for the three-month period. It is important to note...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Mandated PFR tunes out regulation FCAS markets – What happens to batteries?

    The introduction of the mandatory Primary Frequency Response (PFR) in September 2020 improved frequency control of the NEM considerably, as highlighted by AEMO. In this Chart of the week, we look at NEM mainland FCAS regulation services dispatch before and after PFR implementation and the behaviour of the Hornsdale Power...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Don’t look back in anger: are peaking assets exploiting 5-min price spikes?

    Building on our previous Chart of the week in October, where we reviewed the first couple of weeks of 5-minute settlement, we wanted to revisit this topic. Now two months in, we take another look and see how well the fastest responding assets in the NEM are capturing the best...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Slip slidin’ away, You know the nearer your destination

    In our previous ‘Chart of the week’ back in November 2020 (Issue 61), we looked at the projected uptake of battery storage projects in the National Electricity Market (NEM). Nine months on, with a number of large projects announced, we felt it was worth an update. In our last chart,...

  • Low carbon generation

    Australian Chart of the week | “I feel the earth move under my feet”: from high to lows

    We have seen a dramatic shift in FCAS price fortunes over the past year or so, going from all-time highs of ~$229.3mn in Q1 of 2020 (due to the separation event) to only ~$40.1mn in Q1 2021. Since 2019 we have also seen regulation raise prices decline from robust prices...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Australian Chart of the week | Where do we go now…. Sweet child o’ mine?

    On 6 November the Victorian government announced the commitment to deliver, along with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), the largest battery in Australia 300MW. The Geelong battery is contracted under AEMO’s System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS) allowing an additional 250MW to flow across the interconnector and respond to network...

  • 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

    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...

  • E-mobility and low carbon

    Pixie Chart of the week | Average electric vehicle range exceeds 200 miles

    New research from Cornwall Insight has revealed that the average range of electric cars available on the UK market exceeds 200 miles. This is based upon data from the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure.

  • Low carbon generation

    Pixie Chart of the week | European oil majors adopting clean energy approach

    Oil majors across the globe have been stepping up investment into clean energy over the past decade, with some having plans to invest up to 20% of capital budgets into low-carbon energy by 2030. Following Shell’s advancements in the clean energy space, historically through biofuel investment, but more recently through...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Pixie Chart of the Week | Germany leads the charge for European domestic storage

    A recent report by research consultancy Frost and Sullivan highlights that for the 2018-19 financial year, Germany led the way in domestic-scale battery storage worldwide. This trend is set to continue in Europe, with Germany being the dominant player in small-scale storage to 2025, by which time only Italy is...

  • 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...