Frequency Control Ancillary Services

  • Media Mentions

    PV Magazine| FCAS markets and battery profits

    New forecasts from Cornwall Insight Australia revealed a lucrative and enduring role for batteries in the recently launched Very Fast Frequency Control Ancillary Services (VF FCAS) markets. Our Modelling Manager Ben Tudman spoke to PV Magazine on why the higher prices available will hopefully see appetite grow for involvement in...

  • Press Releases

    New power grid rules could reduce battery funding and lifespan

    New rules proposed by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) could reduce the revenue streams available to batteries and cut their lifespan. The proposed change would require batteries with a capacity of 5MW or greater to respond automatically to small changes in power system frequency, known as a Primary Frequency...

  • Press Releases

    26GW of announced battery storage in the Australian pipeline

    Research from Cornwall Insight Australia shows that the pipeline of proposed storage is growing substantially to over 26GW of announced projects in the market and that the expected technical lifetime of those assets is increasing. As a result, Cornwall Insight Australia has announced an increase in its Frequency Control Ancillary...

  • Press Releases

    Peak raise regulation FCAS volumes drop by 72MWs

    Analysis from Cornwall Insight Australia shows an evident change in regulation Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS) enablement from December onwards, with a 72 MW drop in FCAS volumes. December 2019 to March 2020 average volume peaks at approximately 315MW while 12 months later it peaks at 242MW. Overall, there is...

  • Press Releases

    Battery storage increasingly setting the price in FCAS markets

    Research from Cornwall Insight Australia shows a clear trend in regulation raise price setting in the Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS) market with respect to battery storage. In fact, in Q119, batteries were only involved in ~2.22% of instances. This has increased to ~3.73% in Q120 and is now at...

  • Press Releases

    Increasing value for battery storage to shift generation

    The Federal Government announced last week that they would step into the electricity market to build up to 1,000MW of gas-fired generation to fill the gap left by the Liddell Power station for the 2023-24 summer unless the market can demonstrate final investment on dispatchable power by 2021. Since then,...

  • Press Releases

    Batteries FCAS revenues $290,000/MW more lucrative in SA than in Victoria

    The Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS) markets are (mostly) created equal, with volumes procured across the National Energy Market (NEM) and prices settling at similar levels across each state most of the time. However, prices can deviate due to contingency events (interconnector failing or a generator tripping), constraints binding or...

  • Press Releases

    Solar power responsible for paying 20% of total FCAS regulation costs

    Latest research from Cornwall Insight Australia shows that solar farms are responsible for paying somewhere between 10%-20% of total regulation FCAS costs in any given month (see Figure 1). This is disproportionate to solar’s energy generation in the NEM, which in FY20, was only ~3%. In contrast, wind is far...