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 the week, we observe the values for this service dropping over the last two years. With more entrants challenging the larger pumped storage incumbent providers.
Energy storage and flexibility
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....
Energy storage and flexibility
The focus of batteries is constantly adjusting to reflect ‘where the money is at’. Various quarters have trends, and others have events that swing momentum. With FCAS enablement in Q2 this year dropping to some of the lowest values since 2016, shifting the solar curve, or rather arbitrage, became the...
Commercial and market outlook
Over the last five financial years, South Australia has seen a significant increase in price volatility, with substantial portions of time both negative and above $250/MWh, leading to increasing opportunities for storage systems to provide arbitrage services. A number of events initiated the reduction in wholesale energy prices between $50/MWh...
Energy storage and flexibility
On 3 August, at the request of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) initiated a rule change request proposing to “clarify the mandatory primary frequency response (PFR) obligations of scheduled bidirectional plant (i.e. batteries with a capacity of 5MW and greater)”. One of the...
Low carbon generation
The Australia-Asia power line proposed by Sun Cable will connect a 17-20GW capacity solar plant to Darwin with an 800km High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission line, which then connects to Singapore via a 4,500km HVDC transmission subsea cable (Australia-Asia-powerlink). Expected to be operational by 2027, the $35 billion project has...
Commercial and market outlook
The Step Change scenario in the 2022 Integrated System Plan (ISP) is targeting 83% renewable energy generation in the NEM by 2030-31. By then, around 79GW of VRE resources (wind, utility solar, and distributed PV) is expected to have been installed to help replace the 14GW capacity of synchronous generation...
Energy storage and flexibility
The NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap’s second competitive tender round for firming infrastructure commenced on 3 April 2023. This second round is focused on supporting LTESA firming supply proponents, where ‘the LTES Operator will have the option to access a capped annuity payment as a top-up to the operating revenues of...
Energy storage and flexibility
When project developers evaluate the potential profits for a new battery project in the NEM, one key variable being considered is the maximum allowable cycling rate of the battery. Cycling at higher rates can enable more arbitrage profits to be earned, but every MWh of energy that passes through the...
