Australian Chart of the week | “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to [dispatch]”

We have had a number of contingency events this year that have stretched the electricity market to it limits including bushfires, high winds and high temperatures. These are all weather events that we can expect will continue into the future, putting continue stress onto electricity infrastructure (see CSIROs report). These are the events we saw this year alone:

  • 4 January – separation event between NSW and Victoria due to bushfires
  • 30 January – high demand and unexpected withdrawal of capacity due to high temperatures
  • 31 January – storm destroys transmission lines and separates SA and Victoria for 17 days

Related thinking

Commercial and market outlook

The Very Fast FCAS market is about to commence – a look at a possible time-of-day profile for R1

On 9 October 2023, 1pm (market time), the dispatch of the new Very Fast (VF) FCAS market in the NEM will commence and will add two new markets for contingency FCAS, Raise 1 (R1) and Lower 1 (L1). AEMO has released a final industry go-live plan to keep track of...

Energy storage and flexibility

Australian Chart of the week | A little [ price volatility ] goes a long way

The year of 2020 is slowly ending which means that summer has well and truly arrived. However, for those with some connection to the NEM, this is a period where speculation peaks in terms of what summer has in store for us – and with good reason! Of all parts...

Low carbon generation

Australian Chart of the week | The fire between us: the day bushfires separated NSW & Victoria

This summer has already sprung many newsworthy events for the NEM including broader climate discussions with increased tightening of demand/supply balance. On Saturday 4 January, bushfires directly impacted the NEM. They triggered a series of supply disruptions resulting in power prices in NSW hitting value of lost load (VoLL). In...

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...