A minor heatwave in South Australia may put a little pressure on wholesale electricity prices and supply this week, but the AEMO’s message is to keep calm and carry on.
The temperature in Adelaide reached 37 yesterday and the same is expected today, followed by 36 tomorrow and then dropping a couple of degrees on Friday – a little cooler than previously anticipated. Temperatures will remain above 30 degrees for the next week, heralding a somewhat warmish start to autumn.
The wholesale price of electricity exceeded $450 per megawatt hour briefly yesterday, the highest in the National Electricity Market, but it was a far cry from recent events that saw it skyrocket to $14,000 at times. Wholesale prices were no doubt reined in to some degree thanks to the state’s significant wind and solar power generation resources.
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) advised yesterday it is not expecting electricity supply shortfalls over the next few days, but notes conditions can change rapidly due to unexpected generator or network issues.
“As of 28 February, indications suggest that generation supply in the power system will be able to meet demand. However given the dynamic nature of the power system, changes in weather forecasts and or equipment failures, all can impact the situation quite quickly,” said the Operator.
AEMO says it will continue to monitor the market and status of the state’s power system and will inform of any updates as required.
South Australians have become particularly sensitive to the threat of blackouts, triggered by a statewide event last year followed by various outages since.
While the state’s government sorts out energy security, some South Australians are taking matters into their own hands; with an uptick of interest in solar and battery systems.
As we’ve mentioned previously, many of the new generation battery systems are unable to supply power during blackouts. However, that’s just changed with the recently announced availability of Sonnen Protect in Australia; an add-on component for the popular German-made sonnenBatterie Eco system. The small device detects electricity outages and blackouts in real time; automatically and safely switching to stored battery power.
The much-anticipated Tesla Powerwall 2, expected to arrive on our shores soon, will also be blackout ready.
