Major international news stories in recent days have centred around energy challenges in Europe and China. Europe and China are on opposite sides of the world and get their energy from (mostly) different sources. Europe’s problems are driven by gas while China’s are driven by coal. Global oil benchmarks reached a three year high this …
In the world of electricity market nerds the Ford vs Holden debate of the past decade has been about how you pay for the electricity generated. This has come down to two different models: energy-only market design and capacity markets. Energy-only markets are for the purists: they pay generators only for the electricity they dispatch …
In March this year the Victorian Government announced it had struck a deal to close the Yallourn coal fired power station four years early, in 2028. The details of the deal with the power station owner, EnergyAustralia (EA), remain confidential, described by Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio at Budget Estimates in June as “commercial in …
First impressions matter. The Australian energy community has been waiting patiently for two months to hear from newly installed Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) CEO Daniel Westerman. Yesterday a CEDA lunch in Melbourne was set as his unofficial coming out, his debutante ball. The headline message from Westerman’s carefully scripted lunch speech was that he …
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AEMO recently updated its Electricity Statement of opportunities (ESOO) to reflect the agreement between Energy Australia and the Victorian Government to close the Yallourn brown coal power station in 2028. Unsurprisingly, the forecast is that Victoria will need investment in new dispatchable generation by the time of Yallourn’s closure to replace the 1,480 MW plant, …
The impending closure of the Yallourn power station poses a major reliability problem for Victoria. After Hazelwood in 2017, it will be the second of the state’s four giant brown coal generators to close. That’s the withdrawal of more than 3000 megawatts of dispatchable generation, and the emissions that go with them. Victorian Energy Minister …
Last week saw several media reports of a new analysis of the NEM predicting five large coal plants may close by 2025 (over and above Liddell, already scheduled for closure in 2022-23). The report is by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Affairs (IEEFA), in partnership with Green Energy Markets. It’s a big call …
Texas is currently in the grid of a severe and lethal cold snap which has killed at least 21 people and crippled its electricity supply for more than two days. Shortages of up to 25GW of electricity have resulted in rolling blackouts amidst freezing sub-zero temperatures in a state known for its mild to warm …
The arrival of summer in Australia is heralded by some time honoured traditions; putting up the Christmas tree, the sound of test cricket on the radio and the now traditional pre-Christmas alarm about the risk of summer blackouts. Blackouts – the sudden and unexpected loss of electricity supply, remain an annoying, and sometimes expensive, reality …
