This article shares some insights about curtailment for semi-scheduled solar and wind farms in the National Electricity Market and is a more in-depth follow-on to an earlier article about the issue.
Over the Easter weekend there were a number of different tasks to work through – including sorting out what to do about electricity supply at home. Understandably I drew the short straw on that task.
One of the most characteristic features of Australia’s National Electricity Market is the sheer length of the entire network. With roughly 40,000 kilometres of high voltage transmission lines spanning a physical distance of around 5,000km, we have one of the longest interconnected electricity grids in the world.
Today in South Australia, the market appears to have received a reminder that National Electricity Market Dispatch Engine (NEMDE) is technology agnostic, and that all types of technologies can experience their own challenges leading to price volatility.
Whilst automated rebidding got some coverage from the most recent Australian Electricity Market Operator (AEMO) Quarterly Energy Dynamics, something else happened in the quarter that seemed to get less attention but is possibly much more important to operations for wind, solar and battery owners in the National Electricity Market (NEM).
Over 2,000 MW – or around 55% – of South Australia’s firm supply capacity was unavailable on March 12, 2021, along with virtually all of its large-scale renewable supply (a further 1,800 MW or so) but the lights stayed on – just.
On Tuesday 13th October 2020 Queensland’s electricity spiked from approximately $25/MWh to $15,000/MWh (the current market price cap) in response to a tripping incident involving the constraint of 11 solar farms and one wind farm. The event is being seen as illustrative of just what needs to be addressed in the design of NEM 2.0.
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