Power and spot price monitoring projects & resources

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#1543417 28-Apr-2016 14:15

Has anyone else noticed that the floating market electricity off peak prices are higher than usual some days, recently? eg on the 26th we see what's pretty normal, much lower prices overnight. On the 24th overnight prices were much the same as peak times.

If it was consistent I'd think it was to do with water storage levels, but it goes back and forward depending on the day.

Jeeves

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#1543833 29-Apr-2016 09:04

Might be maintenance on some generators causing a reduction in supply?

timmmay

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#1543990 29-Apr-2016 12:36

Yeah maybe.

Aredwood

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#1544513 30-Apr-2016 15:03

It is much worse in Auckland. Often spot prices are lower during the evening peak. Compared to around 10pm. It is because it is so dry at the moment. They have to restrict hydro output during off peak to save the water for use during peak periods. There is often a lot of late night coal generation as well.

luckiestmanalive

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#1545408 2-May-2016 15:10

Actually, South Island lake storage and inflows are normal, despite the dry conditions nearly everywhere else! Spot price blips under present conditions are often caused by inaccurately low forecasts of demand. It hasn't got quite cold enough that everyone has shifted to winter mode, where they turn on the heaters morning and night. Until that happens, the gentailers can get caught out offering too little generation at times.

Aredwood

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#1546398 3-May-2016 23:11

This I what I see happening.

High coal and gas fired generation. And really low north island hydro. Agree that south island hydro is normal. And we are lucky that there is alot of wind generation at the moment. (over 400MW) This was at 22.30, so well past the evening peak usage time.

k14

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#1546444 4-May-2016 08:05

timmmay:

Has anyone else noticed that the floating market electricity off peak prices are higher than usual some days, recently? eg on the 26th we see what's pretty normal, much lower prices overnight. On the 24th overnight prices were much the same as peak times.

If it was consistent I'd think it was to do with water storage levels, but it goes back and forward depending on the day.

Most likely answer is North Island wind generation. With around 400MW installed capacity it makes up a rather high percentage of the currently available generation. So, if the wind is blowing the price is low, if its not, the price is high. The wind doesn't know when its day time or night time (compared to all other major forms of generation in NZ) so it can create quite a bit of volatility in the market.

The other factors that can effect the generation is what Huntly or the two CCGT's in the North Island are doing. If any one of them is on/off, the minimum load they run is quite significant (only down to roughly half load) which means they can artificially depress the overnight price (because they can't back off enough). But then when they shut down, there is a much higher proportion of generation that can truly mimic the load profile (mainly hydro) thus the spot price has less fluctuations.

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timmmay

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#1546451 4-May-2016 08:26

Interesting thoughts all. Supply and demand at work, basically. It's just unpredictable. I'm getting a timer put on the hot water next week so it heats at night (took ages to arrange), this reduces the benefit of this, though in winter it will reduce evening peak usage for hot water.

TonyS071

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#1552364 13-May-2016 20:11

I got this email from nodewatch today, 4 days AFTER the price spike occurred ....

Hi,

At 17:45 on 09/05/2016, the 5-minute electricity price at TKR0331 rose above
$140.00/MWh (from $118.61 to $142.84/MWh)

timmmay

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#1552399 13-May-2016 21:07

Good point. I'll email the nodewatch guy.

Willuknight

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#1553345 15-May-2016 21:56

Hi guys, just applied to join Flick thanks to conversations in this forum.

I had an idea, I don't know the easist way to get the alerts as to the current price, but you could use this and IFTTT to change the colour of the light depending on what the current spot price was

timmmay

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#1553371 16-May-2016 06:50

Interesting idea. Not sure I'd want the light in my room to change color, but a small LED or indicator would be handy. Of course the Flick app gives you alerts as well now, or at least it's meant to. Plus there's a third party email alerting system you can sign up to as well, nodewatch.

Willuknight

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#1553476 16-May-2016 11:03

I wasn't necessarily meaning all lights, but just one light, seems easier then having your phone buzz all the time. I'd rather have a notification system that wasn't tied to one device so that everyone that lives at my house can see it.

TonyS071

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#1553710 16-May-2016 20:42

"Flick app gives you alerts" - is that a tui billboard saying ? Yeah, right....

I do get flick app alerts regularly - telling me interesting stuff about c02 emissions. In fact one came in while I was writing this post. What is annoying to the extreme, is that the app DOESNT send notifications when the price goes out of bounds, and that is the compelling reason I subscribe to them. I did get a nodewatch email today ( and in a very reasonable timeframe) when the Wellington price shot up,just after 1800, but NOTHING at all on the subject from flick.

I intend to launch another customer feedback case this evening , just as I did in an identical case a few months ago.

Come on Flick, get it sorted!

timmmay

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#1553711 16-May-2016 20:49

Agree, nothing from Flick today and prices were high.

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