29 April 2021
The Australian Energy Market Commission has announced major changes to the way “system strength” is managed on Australia’s main grid, effectively ending its controversial “do no harm” legislation from 2017 and putting the responsibility on network owners to manage the issue.
System strength is an essential grid service that is key to maintaining voltage control in the face of a disturbance, and concerns about the state of system strength has caused significant delays to the commissioning of many big wind and solar farms, and caused many to have their output reduced to manage the risk.
In 2017, in what was widely seen as a panicked response to the South Australia blackout and the Finkel Review, the AEMC introduced new rules – known as the “do no harm” rule – that put the emphasis on new generators to “make good” any assumed threat to the grid their added capacity might create.
28 April 2021
As the Australian energy market awaits the release of detailed proposals for energy market reforms drafted by the Energy Security Board, expected to be released this week, there is growing concern in the industry that major incumbent fossil fuel companies have already received an early drop.
The Energy Security Board has been working on proposals for a post-2025 redesign of the National Electricity Market, a job it was tasked to undertake by energy ministers under the former COAG Energy Council. This work is expected to culminate in the release of final a final package of recommendations by the middle of the year.
28 April 2021
A new report has claimed that the cost to solar households of a proposed charge for exports to the grid could be more than double that projected by the Australian Energy Market Commission, potentially leaving many solar homes with little or no income for their surplus generation.
The report, published this week by Victoria University’s Professor Bruce Mountain, critiques the AEMC’s calculation of the impact of the network charge for solar exports, as proposed in a draft determination last month.
As RenewEconomy reported at the time, modelling produced in a 250-page document proposed a tariff of around 2c/kWh for exports in the middle of the day, which the AEMC estimated would cost the average solar household up to $100 a year.
27 April 2021
Record-breaking investment in large-scale solar and wind energy generation has helped to slash electricity prices for a range of customers in New South Wales, south-east Queensland and South Australia, with a reduction in 2021-22 Default Market Offers set to deliver more than $65 million in bill savings.
In its final determination on DMOs published on Tuesday, the Australian Energy Regulator said electricity costs for the 727,000 customers on so-called standing offers would be cut by up to $116 for households and up to $441 for small business, starting July 01.
Based on modelling from ACIL Allen, the AER has determined final DMO prices for residential customers in 2021-22 will be between $53 to $102 lower than in 2020-21 in New South Wales, $53 lower in south east Queensland, and $116 lower in South Australia.
Big boost for battery storage in new rules that reward fast response on grid reneweconomy.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reneweconomy.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.