solar

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Is the sun setting on utility solar?

    The Federal Government has legislated emissions reductions of 43% below 2005 levels by 2030. Sourcing electricity from renewable technologies is fundamental to meeting this, with a much-publicised target of 82% renewables in the grid by 2030 – up from a current value of 38% over the last year. Fortunately, the...

  • 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....

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Minimum demand projections in Victoria

    The surplus rooftop solar provides an enormous opportunity for additional flexible load, where this can be optimised during the day. Electric Vehicles acting at a distributed level (exactly where the surplus is arising) provide the perfect solution if utilised in conjunction with smart metering to assist in mitigating these issues....

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    A tale of two causes: curtailment as renewable records break

    Renewable generation records continue to fall in the NEM, with several dropping in succession over the last week. As the amount of renewable generation in the NEM increases (led by a world-leading uptake of rooftop solar), as does the amount of curtailment. As curtailment is essentially wasted energy, minimising it...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Feeding the future NEM – Eat some now. Save some for later.

    As the NEM continues to transition towards increased penetration of variable renewable energy (VRE), the use of the word ‘curtailment’ has also increased. While curtailments have historically been a natural part of market outcomes (i.e. generators withholding capacity at higher price points), the increased prevalence of curtailment of VRE is...

  • 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 | VRE pays more as PFR helps reduce coal FCAS costs

    In our previous ‘Chart of the week’ in November 2020, we reviewed the increasing percentage of causer pays cost that solar generators bear due to their generation profiles and how this results in them paying significantly more of the causer pays cost as a ratio of the generation they provide. More than...

  • 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 | Is the market putting the brakes on distributed solar exports?

    In most states, electricity retailers determine and set their own rooftop solar feed-in tariffs (FITS). A major driver is the wholesale energy prices, which continue to decline midday. For more information, please refer to our previous Chart of the Week issue 76. As the solar weighted wholesale energy prices reduce or become...

  • Low carbon generation

    Australian Chart of the week | Out of sight, not out of mind: DER record growth continues

    The growth in behind-the-meter distributed energy resources (BTM DER) has been a key feature of the NEM over recent years. BTM solar has grown from ~1-2% of total energy supplied five years ago to ~6% this year. In fact, looking within the day, the percentage of supply being provided by...

  • Low carbon generation

    Australian chart of the week | SA shatters record: lets talk about the elephant in the room…

    As springtime rolls around in the NEM, those with interest in the market are always keeping an eye on South Australia to see just how low operational demand will go and when (not so much if) the record will be broken. This year has not disappointed. On 11 October 2020...

  • Low carbon generation

    Australian Chart of the week | The wind and the sun: an old age quarrel… or friendship?

    Last week, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) released the Q2 edition of its Quarterly Energy Dynamics (QED) report. A key finding in the report is the reduction in wholesale electricity prices seen last quarter. With government-supported Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) being proposed especially in New South Wales (NSW), what...

  • Low carbon generation

    Chart of the week | Free fallin’: Green generator values hit hard by COVID-19

    Since the COVID-19 outbreak, there has been a downturn in GB power demand and an associated slump in wholesale prices. This has has resulted in a sharp decline in green generator revenues. However, the magnitude of these impacts depends heavily on a generators’ routes to market and trading choices. We...

  • Low carbon generation

    Pixie Chart of the week | Germany demonstrates benefit of auction system

    Germany regularly runs auctions to subsidise renewable generation capacity. In 2020, it plans to run 20 auctions – seven solar, seven onshore wind, three biomass and three mixed wind and solar – as well as six for CHP engines, seeking nearly 7GW of capacity in total. The auctions set a...

  • 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...

  • Low carbon generation

    Australian Chart of the week | Tis’ all about the Benjamins: foregone value of solar constraints

    Summer is now well and truly behind us. However, grid stability remains a concern with no relief in sight for the five solar farms across Victoria and NSW. The solar farms are currently at 50% output. The constraint has been in place since mid-September last year and will likely last...

  • Low carbon generation

    Australian Chart of the week | From sunrise to sunset: the outlook for merchant solar

    Utility-scale solar is certainly making an impression on the NEM with the recently released Quarterly Energy Dynamics from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). It reported that Q4 2019 saw the highest grid-solar output on record. In addition, Shell announced its first foray into the world of utility-scale solar. They...

  • 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...

  • Low carbon generation

    Pixie Chart of the week | Community energy in 2018: mixed messages

    Community Energy England (CEE), a not-for-profit organisation which is the voice of the community energy sector, launched its State of the Sector 2019 report at an event on 22 June, coinciding with the start of community energy fortnight. Our chart this week illustrates that communities raised £2.3mn in development funding and £40mn...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Pixie Chart of the week | CARES Publishes Financial Analysis for Renewables Projects

    In this week’s Pixie Chart of the week, following the closure of the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme to new generation on 31 March 2019, Community and Renewable Energy Scotland (CARES) has produced guidelines to help assess returns for investment in small-scale renewable energy. The CARES Project Viability Modelling Post Feed-in Tariff investigates the economic...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Pixie Chart of the week | Pixie Energy demonstrates value of flexibility

    In 2018, BEIS provided funding to support a range of Flexibility Market Feasibility Studies. Pixie Energy, as part of a consortium including Ipswich Borough Council and Suffolk County Council, led a study based on Ipswich. Here, we outline some of the project’s findings.

  • Low carbon generation

    Pixie Chart of the week | New US solar on par with extant coal: Lazard

    Lazard published its annual update to the costs of electricity generation and storage in the USA on 8 November. The reports, Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis (v12.0) and Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Storage Analysis (v4.0) show a continued decline in the costs of alternative energy technologies. Significantly, the costs...