Post: Electricity trading suspended as supply crisis deepens

Electricity trading suspended as supply crisis deepens

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has suspended the spot market after it became “impossible to operate” amid a series of projected energy shortfalls

AEMO said on 15 June that it had halted trading in the spot market serving New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania with effect from 2.05pm AEST. In its statement AEMO said it had “determined that it is necessary to suspend the spot market in all regions [of the NEM] because it has become impossible to operate” the market.

In the hours prior to the suspension, AEMO had issued further lack of reserve alerts at the level 3 warning for all the mainland states within the market. In making the announcement AEMO CEO, Daniel Westerman, said the market operator was forced to direct 5GW of generation through direct interventions, and it was no longer possible to reliably operate the spot market or the power system this way.

For NSW, the forecast supply gap reached as much as 4,000MW for a period on Thursday, NSW’s total demand during Wednesday afternoon was about 6,100MW. Victoria’s largest forecast supply gap exceeded 2000MW for Thursday morning, while Queensland had a predicted shortfall of more than 800MW for later on Wednesday.

The market suspension is temporary and will be reviewed daily for each NEM region. When conditions change, and AEMO is able to resume operating the market under normal rules, it will do so as soon as practical.