Australian Chart of the week | Your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards

Policy and regulation changes in the National Electricity Market continue to accelerate with around 26 active rule changes underway. This week we wanted to look at the quantitative impact of one of the most talked about issues in the NEM this year – System Strength. There are currently 3 rule changes dealing directly with system strength issues that will have profound impact on the way in which the electricity grid is managed in the coming decades:

  • Efficient management of system strength on the power system
  • Synchronous services markets
  • Capacity commitment mechanism for system security and reliability services

As well as the broader AEMC “Investigation into system strength frameworks in the NEM”, and the Energy Security Board’s Post 2025 Market Design work under the Essential System Services workstream.

Ben Cerini

Ben Cerini

To keep reading, please log in to your account

Log in
Contact us

Related thinking

Energy storage and flexibility

R1 and L1 revving up the BESS revenues

In our ‘The VFF… Very Fast and Financially rewarding market so far’ Chart of the week, the two new contingency markets, the Very Fast raise contingency FCAS market and the Very Fast lower contingency FCAS, were analysed and demonstrated the high participation of big batteries along with VPPs and DERs....

Low carbon generation

An investigation into REZ capacity factors during Victoria’s dark doldrums

As the grid transitions to much higher levels of renewable penetration, the range of generation outcomes on any given day increases. The worst of these ranges are known as dark doldrums when there is a combination of poor conditions for wind and solar generation, usually a windless day in winter....

Commercial and market outlook

The VFF… Very Fast and Financially rewarding market so far

On 9 October 2023, 1pm (market time), we saw the start of two new contingency FCAS markets. The Very fast raise contingency FCAS market, and the Very fast lower contingency FCAS. Upon commencement of the VF FCAS market, a commissioning period of two weeks with an initial max requirement of...

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

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...

Low carbon generation

“Ooh, a storm is threatening, My very [interconnection] today”: Can states utilise interconnection to share wind resources?

Penetration of renewables continues to dominate the energy news, as we saw renewables as a proportion of total demand reach new heights this week to a new record of ~70% penetration. In light of this continuing march toward a renewable-dominated grid (building on some analysis we did in Chart of...

Energy storage and flexibility

How long is the ‘Golden time of day’ for batteries?

A key part of the business case for grid-scale standalone batteries is the arbitrage opportunity between low daytime wholesale prices (when renewable energy generation from solar is plentiful) and high evening prices (when the sun goes down and household demand ramps up quickly). The share of battery revenue coming from...

Low carbon generation

MLF changes in NSW in the past decade

MLF, short for Marginal Loss Factor, represents the portion of electricity losses that occur along the transmission network between a connection point and the Regional Reference Node (RRN). Within the NEM, the MLF serves as a metric to quantify these losses along the network, playing a pivotal role in determining...