Key highlights from our Balancing Services Forecast report

In this week’s ‘Chart of the Week’, we will outline some of the key highlights from our latest report, to provide you with a flavour of the latest long-term trends for response and reserve.

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Related thinking

Commercial and market outlook

How does thermal storage stack up compared to batteries?

Along with the retirement of coal/gas power plants in the NEM, long-duration energy storage systems (LDESS), often exceeding 8 hours of storage, are becoming more crucial in transitioning to a more sustainable and renewable energy future. LDESS technologies, such as battery storage systems (BESS), thermal energy storage systems (TESS), compressed...

Commercial and market outlook

VNI West selected path; an incentive for delaying coal retirements?

On 29 May 2023, AEMO published a conclusions report on the VNI West Project. According to the report, option 5A (a variant of  AEMO’s preferred option in a previous consultation paper) is preferred for VNI West. In option 5A, the transmission line crosses the Murray River north of Kerang (Wamba...

Commercial and market outlook

Spot the spread: Are current battery revenues enough to encourage further investment?

In AEMO’s ‘Step Change’ scenario, it was estimated that storage capacity in the NEM would need to increase by a factor of 30 between 2022 and 2050 to support a grid transformation that limits temperature rises below 2 degrees. This represents about 13GW of new storage capacity by 2030 and...

Power and gas networks

Trouble Ahead? – What’s Next For TNUoS Charges?

Some industry participants will be well versed in the Transmission Network Use of System (TNUoS) charging regime, while others may not have had to engage with it before. Regardless of previous involvement, these charges are becoming increasingly important to understand for reasons we will discuss shortly.  In this week’s ‘Chart...

Commercial and market outlook

Feast or famine? FCAS costs in South Australia

Frequency Control Ancillary Service (FCAS) prices are highly volatile, at times resulting in short periods of extremely high FCAS cost. Three such events in recent history are the South Australian (SA) islanding events in November 2019, February 2020, and November 2022. During these events, FCAS costs in SA totalled $16...

Low carbon generation

NSW’s transition to a new era: What will replace Eraring?

After 52 years of operation, the NSW Liddell power station officially shut down last 28 April. With Liddell’s closure, NSW’s transition to a green energy future is in full swing. First announced in 2015, NSW had seven years to ensure there is enough replacement capacity once Liddell is retired. Since...

Commercial and market outlook

It’s the Liddell things that matter

Australia’s oldest coal-fired power plant Liddell retired completely in the last week of April 2023 after 52 years. This giant of AGL, which had a total registered capacity of 2,000 MW, operationally acted as a 1600MW station and 1200MW after the closure of its third unit. Australia’s transition to clean...

Energy storage and flexibility

A look at AEMO pre-dispatch forecasts over the last year

The Energy Security Board (ESB), under the direction of the National Cabinet, is currently working on a number of changes that will impact how generators connect to and operate within the National Electricity Market (NEM). The Congestion Relief Market (CRM) model is one such change to how the NEM currently...