Power generators warned on holding back supply
Amid the ongoing threat of a supply gap, power generators have been ordered to provide ‘high quality and timely information’ to the energy market operator.
Power generators have been warned not to withhold supply and that they must notify authorities of fuel shortages and outages given “considerable challenges” in the national electricity system.
The Australian Energy Regulator, in a compliance update, said there was a need to provide “high quality and timely information” to the Australian Energy Market Operator amid the ongoing threat of a supply gap while their behaviour offering volumes to the market was also being monitored.
“Market participants should not withhold capacity in order to be directed on by AEMO,” AER chairman Clare Savage said in a letter to the industry.
“The AER is currently reviewing market participant conduct and will take action should material misconduct be identified.”
A $300 per megawatt hour cap had been put in place for the market prior to the suspension, a low price which saw generators withhold 5 gigawatts of generation given some of that supply would have run at a loss.
An unprecedented lockdown of the national electricity market could be lifted as soon as Friday morning with fears of blackouts receding following the return of coal plants and improved bidding from generators into the system.
AEMO will carry out a formal review of the market suspension, Ms Savage said, probing both the reason for the market lockdown and the effect it had on the operation of the spot market.
“We expect registered participants to co-operate in AEMO’s review including by making available relevant records and information upon request, in a timely manner,” Ms Savage said.
Given fuel supply constraints and coal outages, generators were told to promptly notify AEMO of supply issues, unplanned and planned outages including plant trips and tests or high-risk maintenance work that may cause disturbances. It flagged issues with alarms for operating and trading staff saying alerts displayed in a scrolling queue on a screen may be easily missed while internal communication protocols must also be reviewed and up to date.
Separately, a quarter of capacity from EnergyAustralia’s coal plant in Victoria will remain sidelined for a week longer than expected while another unit will be removed due to a maintenance issue. Yallourn, which provides 20 per cent of Victoria’s electricity needs, was due to bring back its fourth operating unit by the end of this week amid broader concerns over the amount of supplies in the national electricity market.
The unit will now remain offline until the end of next week, EnergyAustralia said, while another Yallourn unit will be forced offline in the coming week to fix an emerging maintenance issue.
“We are doing all that we can to sequence this after our current offline unit returns,” EnergyAustralia managing director Mark Collette said. “We are prepared for any unplanned outages. Our gas-fired assets continue to operate at seven times their normal volume compared with last year, serving a major role in keeping the lights on for all customers.”
Both of its Mt Piper units in NSW are operating and supplying more than 10 per cent of the state’s electricity demand.
AEMO confirmed a staged approach on Wednesday to removing the suspension after seeing a “clear improvement in market conditions” – seven days since it intervened in the market for the first time since its creation in 1998.
The market operator expects a low volume of directions from AEMO to generators, after it was forced to intervene in the market up to 100 times a day – 50 times the normal daily level – to force generators to supply the market in recent weeks.
More Coverage
The amount of generation made available to market looks better (e.g. see NSW below)
— Dylan McConnell (@dylanjmcconnell) June 23, 2022
Reckon that must give AEMO a bit more confidence on market restart.. pic.twitter.com/nq7QYeQYSG
How ‘dumb luck’ launched a $1 trillion opportunity
Stonepeak founder Mike Dorrell was in the right place at the right time. But the highly sought after fund manager is rewriting the rules on infrastructure.
NSW to ramp up long-duration energy capacity
The NSW government will set a target to nearly double the state’s long-duration energy capacity between 2030 and 2034, as it moves to address a glaring gap in a grid dominated by renewables.