National Electricity Market

  • 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 | Going for green: record level of wind generation in the NEM

    In the spirit of the Australian Olympic team, instantaneous wind generation in the National Energy Market (NEM) reached new heights during a blustery end to July. Output hit a record 6,427MW at 8:05 pm on 25 July, after breaking 6,000MW for the first time just the day before. In this...

  • Low carbon generation

    Australian Chart of the week | AEMO’s 2025 goal means that SA becomes the proving grounds

    The latest news in the National Electricity Market (NEM) is AEMO’s goal to be capable of handling periods of 100% instantaneous renewables penetration by 2025. This is a significant challenge and fitting given the pace the NEM is moving to, supporting increasingly higher levels of instantaneous (and increasingly asynchronous) renewables...

  • Low carbon generation

    Australian Chart of the week | Examining Victoria’s recent wind drought

    This ‘Chart of the week’ examines the recent spell of low wind generation in Victoria and associated elevated prices. Previously, ‘Chart of the week’ issue 78 highlights the risk of wind droughts within the National Electricity Market (NEM) due to the high correlation of wind fronts both within states and...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Australian Chart of the week | Two roller coaster rides for the price of one? Preliminary vs final MLFs

    In recent years, movements in marginal loss factors (MLFs) have received significant attention in the National Electricity Market (NEM). Many renewable projects in remote areas have experienced material MLF reductions as more supply connects nearby. For example, the MLF for Broken Hill Solar Farm saw a whopping 50 ppt drop...

  • Low carbon generation

    Australian Chart of the week | 3 2 1… fight: VRE and price cannibalisation in NEM

    In the last decade, the rapid decline in deployment cost of variable renewable energy (VRE) generation capacity has given renewables an advantage over fossil fuels for new builds as highlighted in ‘Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2020’ report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). In the report, Australia has...

  • 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 | 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 | 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 | “Feel the flow”: changing interconnection dynamics post Liddell

    Locational constraints, high renewable penetration zones and fossil fuel failures or retirements are changing the nature of electricity flows in the market. As a result, Interconnection in the National Electricity Market is playing an increasingly important role in balancing supply and demand. On 4 January 2020, bushfires caused transmission outages...