Australian Chart of the week | The wind and the sun: an old age quarrel… or friendship?

Last week, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) released the Q2 edition of its Quarterly Energy Dynamics (QED) report. A key finding in the report is the reduction in wholesale electricity prices seen last quarter. With government-supported Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) being proposed especially in New South Wales (NSW), what does this mean for renewable developers and their respective wind, solar and storage projects in the state?

In this Chart of the Week, we examine how wind and solar technologies are performing against (and impacting) the time-of-day price shape. We also provide commentary on what to expect going forward and the curious opportunities these trends might present to developers and investors

Lumi Adisa

Lumi Adisa

To keep reading, please log in to your account

Alternatively, please sign up to receive free market insight online and direct to your inbox

Login or Sign up
Contact us

Related thinking

Low carbon generation

Australian Chart of the week | 3 2 1… fight: VRE and price cannibalisation in NEM

In the last decade, the rapid decline in deployment cost of variable renewable energy (VRE) generation capacity has given renewables an advantage over fossil fuels for new builds as highlighted in ‘Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2020’ report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). In the report, Australia has...

Low carbon generation

Australian Chart of the week | VRE pays more as PFR helps reduce coal FCAS costs

In our previous ‘Chart of the week’ in November 2020, we reviewed the increasing percentage of causer pays cost that solar generators bear due to their generation profiles and how this results in them paying significantly more of the causer pays cost as a ratio of the generation they provide. More than...

Commercial and market outlook

Australian Chart of the week | Two roller coaster rides for the price of one? Preliminary vs final MLFs

In recent years, movements in marginal loss factors (MLFs) have received significant attention in the National Electricity Market (NEM). Many renewable projects in remote areas have experienced material MLF reductions as more supply connects nearby. For example, the MLF for Broken Hill Solar Farm saw a whopping 50 ppt drop...

Low carbon generation

Australian Chart of the week | Peak raise regulation FCAS volumes drop by 72MWs

It is helpful to understand Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS) as FCAS price forecasts are needed to estimate generator and customer costs, as well as possible revenues for new and existing ancillary service providers. AEMO procures regulation FCAS to balance frequency during normal operation. From May 2019, AEMO has procured...

Low carbon generation

Australian Chart of the week | If I should stay, I’ll only be in your way: coal and the transition

Events in Queensland on 25 May 2021 tested the resilience of the Queensland demand/supply balance with 3GW of coal generation suddenly coming offline due to a loss of generation at the Callide power station. According to AEMO’s preliminary report – released on 1 June 2021 – on the event, the outage also...

Low carbon generation

Australian Chart of the week | A view of captured prices by technology in New South Wales

This Chart of the week examines the historical captured prices of selected technologies within NSW for the last 10 years. Figure 1 shows the historical rolling monthly average of captured prices of various technologies within New South Wales against the monthly generation of variable renewable resources including small scale rooftop....

Low carbon generation

Australian Chart of the week | Is the market putting the brakes on distributed solar exports?

In most states, electricity retailers determine and set their own rooftop solar feed-in tariffs (FITS). A major driver is the wholesale energy prices, which continue to decline midday. For more information, please refer to our previous Chart of the Week issue 76. As the solar weighted wholesale energy prices reduce or become...

Low carbon generation

Australian Chart of the week | Energy is neither created nor destroyed; it just transitions

In April, the NSW government opened consultations on “specific urgent and mechanical policy details” on regulations needed to implement its Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap released late last year. The Roadmap aims to unlock 12GW of new renewable energy capacity from selected Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) with an additional 2GW in storage...