Pixie Chart of the week | CAISO investigates battery energy storage

On 3 December 2019, CAISO presented its learnings when investigating the potential to use batteries to bridge the gap between peak solar generation and peak demand.

In this week’s Pixie Chart of the Week, we take a look at load, net and generation vs Real Time Daily (RTD) prices in the Californian market and how this contrasts with the GB market.

To keep reading, please log in to your account

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

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...

Energy storage and flexibility

Spread your wings and arbitrage away as Q2 sees ‘the spread’ increase

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

Polarisation of wholesale spot prices leads to opportunity for arbitrage services

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

Proposed changes to PFR and the impact on battery operations

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

Putting the National in NEM

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...