Edge 2020 round up of the last week
Week ending Friday 17th March
QLD
- QLD prices ranged between -$315.80/MWh and $15,500/MWh for the week ending 17th March 2023, averaging $191.36/MWh.
- Hot humid weather at the back end of the week resulted in demand increasing and spot prices spiking. Over the evening peak on Thursday spot prices hit the $15,500/MWh market cap while on Friday’s evening peak the price reached $14,500/MWh. Outside these spikes the maximum daily price remained below $400/MWh.
- Solar output increased across the week as cloud cover reduced. Solar output peaked on Friday at 2,002MW, however there was limited solar available over the evening peaks on Thursday and Friday to suppress spot prices.
- Wind generation was low during the high spot price events. High spot prices on Thursday and Friday occurred just prior to the evening ramp up of wind. Part of the week saw no wind generation across the state, however output peaked in the early hours of Saturday morning at 443MW. Typical of load swings on intermittent generation by 14:15 the same day wind generation had dropped to less than 2MW.
- Gas fired generators continue to increase their output. Darling downs hava moved from an intermittent profile to a baseload / peaking hybrid by ramping up generation over the evening peak. Swanbank E continues to operate after midday through until the following morning as seen in previous weeks. Yarwun operated around the clock. During the high price events on Thursday and Friday, Townsville was joined by Roma and Oakey to cover the price spikes.
- While Wivenhoe continues to operate every evening, the duration is reducing as spot prices decline. Kareeya has joined Barron Gorge in operating throughout the week at 86MW and 66MW respectively. Output from Barron gorge was reduced to zero prior to the evening peak on Thursday due to river safety but had returned to full load by the time the high prices occurred.
- Coal fired availability remains high despite some reliability issues. During the high price events some generator reduced output, but most remained unchanged. The reason for the sustained high prices on Thursday was a chain conveyor issue at Kogan Creek that took 250MW out of the market. Tarong North was taken out of service during the week and the until returned to service over the weekend.
NSW
- NSW prices ranged between -$47.00/MWh and $14,506/MWh for the week ending 17th March 2023, increasing the average to $169.43/MWh thanks to several price spikes on Thursday and Friday.
- Solar output continues to drop again this week, peaking slightly lower than last week at 2,357MW. Similarly, to Queensland there was minimal solar output during the spot price spike on Thursday and Friday.
- Wind generation was also low across NSW during the high spot price events. High spot prices on Thursday and Friday occurred just after wind output dropped by ~800MW. Output peaked in the early hours of Monday morning at 1,492MW. Prior to the high prices on Thursday output was also high reaching 1,440MW only hours before the spot price spikes.
- Tallawarra returned to base load operation this week with Colongra, Smithfield and Uranquinity providing the occasional evening peak generation. All gas units ran over the evening peaks on Thursday and Friday when the high spot prices occurred.
- Coal fired availability remains high this week with no unplanned unit outages. All coal fired units are now cycling their units across the day to reduce exposure to negative prices but are increasing output over the evening peak and into the night when spot prices are higher. The price spike was partially caused by Vales Point 5 being out of service.
SA
- SA prices ranged between -$982.42/MWh and $1,004.70/MWh for the week ending 17th March 2023, averaging $67.97/MWh.
- Solar generation was heavily constrained again this week due to negatives prices and system security concerns, solar peaked at 414MW with output ranging between 360MW and 410MW for the back end of the week.
- High levels of wind generation during solar hours resulted in solar being constrained. Wind output peaked at the end of the working week at 1,173MW significantly lower than previous weeks. Wind output also dropped below 20MW for part of the week, but this was when solar output was high. High spot prices continue to occur when wind generation is low.
- Torrens Island B and Pelican point continued to share the synchronous generation across the week. Dry creek, Quarantine and Osbourne also ran over the higher priced intervals throughout the week.
VIC
- VIC prices ranged between -$995.78/MWh and $357.49/MWh for the week ending 17th March 2023, averaging $57.54/MWh.
- Solar generation was heavily constrained due to negative spot prices but still managed to peak at 803MW and ranged between 700MW and 760MW across most of the week apart from over the weekend when output was constrained to 450MW.
- Wind generation in Victoria was sporadic peaking at 2,763MW but dropping to less than 5MW at some parts of the week. Similar to South Australia, higher spot prices continue to occur when wind generation is low.
- Hydro generation remained unchanged to last week with across the week with Murray, Eildon and Dartmouth only operating during the higher priced parts of the day.
- Availability of coal fired generation in Victoria remains unchanged with no outages.
