The latest report on the Australian energy sector by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has revealed that generator outages, weather conditions, energy resources and new projects have been the key drivers of the market in the three months to the end of June.
The report found that wholesale electricity and gas prices remained high compared to 2018, up eight per cent in the National Electricity Market (NEM) despite a large increase in solar photovoltaic (PV) generation.
It found wholesale electricity prices were influenced by a reduction in brown coal — 573 megawatts (MW) less than 2018 – due to increased planned and unplanned outages as well as hydro generation, and higher gas prices.
The NEM average operational demand was 362MW lower than in 2018, with demand reductions across all regions.
The report said factors included increased rooftop PV conditions and mild weather in Sydney and Melbourne.
It said South Australia set a new minimum demand record at 1330 hours on 27 April, when operational demand dropped to 749MW.
At this time, rooftop PV contributed approximately 600MW of output. South Australia also surpassed its maximum demand record at 1830 hours on 24 June 2019, when operational demand reached 2,564MW.
The report also found that NEM emissions for the quarter fell to the lowest on record, driven by low brown coal-fired generation, increased variable renewable energy output, and lower NEM demand.
AEMO’s 35-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
