The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has published its third State of the System update, a regular round-up of developments in the east coast energy system.
The State of the System update provides information, builds awareness of emerging issues and highlights engagement opportunities on important initiatives and consultations.
In regards to the national electricity market (NEM) update, AEMO has registered four new generators in the NEM since 1 March 2021, with a total capacity of 226MW, and five generators contributing a total of 383MW completed their commissioning and are in commercial operation.
New generators registered:
- Gangarri Solar Farm (120MW) – QLD
- Winton Solar Farm (85MW) – VIC
- Ferguson South Wind Farm (7MW) – VIC
- Adelaide Desalination Plant Solar and Battery (14MW) – SA
New generators commissioned and in commercial operation:
- Maryrorough Solar Farm (27MW) – QLD
- Bomen Solar Farm (100MW) – NSW
- Molong Solar Farm (30MW) – NSW
- Elaine Wind Farm (82MW) – VIC
- Cattle Hill Wind Farm (144MW) – TAS
In the coming weeks, AEMO Account Managers will also commence surveying Generation Developers regarding their end-to-end experience during connection application, registration and commissioning of their generating system.
They will be seeking feedback on recent interactions for projects that may have reached one or more of these milestones in the last 12 months. Once the results are collated, AEMO will review and assess any improvement suggestions and identify activities to address these with updates to be communicated in the next newsletter.
AEMO’s State of the System update also provides an overview of current projects including:
- West Murray Zone
- Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector West (VNI West)
- Queensland-NSW Interconnector (QNI)
- SA Synchronous Condensers
- Primary Frequency Response (PFR) implementation
Following the release of its Engineering Framework March 2021 report in April 2021, AEMO is now looking to work closely with stakeholders on the Engineering Framework to inform its future priorities and identify areas for collaboration.
The update also acknowledges the transmission outages that occurred in South Western Victoria following the collapse of several transmission towers on 31 January 2020, and reports that the rebuild of the permanent structures was successfully completed by AusNet Services during March 2021 by taking two planned outages.
To read the full report, click here.
