Chart of the week

Our complimentary Charts of the week analyse the latest news and updates in the energy industry. The articles offer a visual way of understanding complex issues and are complemented by our expert’s analysis.

Our commentaries cover all areas of the market from wholesale and generation, flexibility and retail energy markets to electric vehicles and regulation.

Latest Charts of the week

  • Low carbon generation

    Surge in value for waste-derived RGGOs

    In August we published the findings from the July-22 edition of our quarterly Green Certificates Survey. The survey is designed to provide greater market transparency for Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGO), Continental Guarantees of Origin (GoOs) and Renewable Gas Guarantees of Origin (RGGO) certificate markets.  In this week's ‘Chart...

  • Low carbon generation

    Analysing earlier coal retirement in Victoria: What does it take for more emission reduction?

    AEMO has recently published the 2022 Integrated System Plan (ISP), which provides an energy transition roadmap for the National Electricity Market (NEM). This ISP focuses on the “Step Change” scenario, which reflects strong action on climate change leading to a step change reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, based on the...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    “Each day looking for new ways to go on”: could a renewable capacity market assist hydrogen turbines?

    The rise of renewables has seen the need for additional firming capacity in order to smooth renewable output and replace coal capacity in the evening peak. The ESB and federal Ministers are currently in discussions regarding the development (or not) of a capacity market for the NEM. Interestingly from the...

  • Low carbon generation

    Head to Head: CfD vs RESS

    2022 has been busy for renewable developers in Great Britain and Ireland, with both the fourth allocation round of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme and the second round of the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) concluding this summer. In this week’s ‘Chart of the Week’, we compared the latest...

  • Regulation and policy

    T-1 Capacity Market 2023-24

    The T-1 Capacity Market (CM) auction for Delivery Year 2023-24 will take place on 14 February 2023, during a particularly challenging period for the GB energy system with prices rising to unprecedented levels and concerns over security of supply. In this week’s ‘Chart of the Week’, we examine the range...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Do batteries add viability to electrolysers within the current market?

    Last month, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced that there will be a gas shortfall in the east coast market in 2023, not a surprise considering the international gas crisis and high gas prices in Australia. Such events have increased attention towards expanding gas supply or reducing the...

  • Low carbon generation

    BEIS confirm end-date for recognition of EU GoO imports

    In this week’s ‘Chart of the Week’, we examine the historical volume of GoOs imported for FMD and explores what impact GoO removal will have on the REGO market.

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Recent events push NEM turnover to new heights

    The story of recent times in the NEM has been the significant escalation of wholesale price outcomes in the market. As discussed repeatedly, elevated fuel costs for gas and supply constraints in the market have sent NEM turnover to uncharted territory. By NEM turnover, we refer to the total costs...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Key highlights from our Balancing Services Forecast report

    In this week’s ‘Chart of the Week’, we will outline some of the key highlights from our latest report, to provide you with a flavour of the latest long-term trends for response and reserve.

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Big Battery, even bigger revenues

    The Victorian Big Battery (VBB) in Geelong, Victoria, is currently the largest commissioned battery in the NEM at 300 MW/450 MWh. In Q2 2022, VBB, and its owner Neoen, posted an estimated AEMO wholesale net revenue of just over $13 million for the three-month period. It is important to note...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Sky-high prices in Dynamic Containment

    In this week’s ‘Chart of the Week’, we explore the drivers behind the record high prices seen in the Dynamic Containment Low service in June, which saw individual assets accrue gross revenues of over £1mn, and consider the outlook for future service prices.

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Elevated Wholesale Price in the NEM: QLD on the verge of triggering Administered Price Cap (APC) again

    The Administered Price Cap (APC) was triggered for the first state on 12 June at 6:55 am as a result of QLD breaching the Cumulative Price Threshold (CPT) of $1,359,100 for the rolling 7-day period. This caused the withdrawal of capacities by gas generators that could not recover fuel costs...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Gas generation on the move

    Gas and electricity prices in Australia are unavoidably linked, particularly in the evening peaks where the gas generators have increased capability to set the price. Due to the recent spike in global gas prices, there has been a distinct change in gas generator bidding strategy resulting in an increase in...

  • E-mobility and low carbon

    Not all doom and gloom: Public EV charging pricing

    For electric vehicle (EV) owners wanting to use the public charging network, there are a range of membership and pricing structures available across the different charge point operators (CPOs) across the UK. Rising costs have been an all-too common headline over 2022, and in this 'Chart of the week', we...

  • Power and gas networks

    UIG trends and reform options under UNC781R

    Identification of Unidentified Gas (UIG) and its allocation has been a contentious issue for some time, there are a range of views across the gas industry on how it could be improved. In this 'Chart of the week', Hursley Moss discusses the recent trends of UIG and the possible reform...

  • E-mobility and low carbon

    Do network operators dream of electric vehicles?

    With more models entering the Australian car market and high prices at the bowser, electric vehicles (EVs) are garnering more attention from both cost-aware and environmentally conscious consumers alike. In this context, AEMO’s forecasts predict a not-too-distant future where EVs outnumber combustion-driven vehicles.  In fact, in AEMO’S 2022 Integrated System...

  • Regulation and policy

    What’s the story…Oxera publishes findings on Ofgem’s regulatory performance

    On 6 May, Ofgem published a report on the findings of an independent review undertaken by Oxera and commissioned by Ofgem's Board into the root causes of the recent supplier failure. In this 'Chart of the week', we look at how the report assesses the performance of Ofgem in meeting...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Australian gas prices have recently coupled with European spot. Will linkage persist post-2023?

    Last year it was difficult to imagine that spot gas prices in Australia would hit unprecedented levels of more than $40-50/GJ, with AEMO capping the DWGM price at $40/GJ. By comparison, the DWGM only averaged $5.10/GJ last year. As was mentioned by Energy Market Intelligence Manager Mohsin Ali in the...

  • Low carbon generation

    BSUoS charges: What goes up…

    Balancing Service Use of System (BSUoS) charges have continued to be the dominant driver of Third-Party Charge increases in recent months, with costs remaining elevated since last autumn. In this 'Chart of the week', we present a view of past monthly BSUoS charges and expectations for future costs on a...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Market suspension poised to lift, but underlying drivers may stick around

    It has been a chaotic few weeks on the east coast, culminating with the NEM being suspended on 15 June 2022, an outcome not seen in the modern version of the NEM. There has been much coverage of the key drivers of the crisis. It stems predominantly from a perfect...

  • Low carbon generation

    Waiting On the [Wind] to Change: A look-back on wind load factors in 2021-22

    In our work across the renewables space, wind output and its impact on Renewables Obligation Certificate (ROC) issue has featured frequently in discussion with colleagues and market participants alike over the course of Compliance Period (CP) 20 (2021-22). In this 'Chart of the week', we examines wind load factor trends...

  • Low carbon generation

    CfD-accredited assets delay CfD start dates

    The media have recently published stories regarding offshore windfarms with Contracts for Difference (CfD) agreements choosing to delay the start of their CfD terms in order to take advantage of high wholesale power prices and avoid having to pay additional revenue back to the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC). This...

  • Power and gas networks

    Australian gas markets spike to unprecedented levels

    Australia’s gas markets are in the middle of an unprecedented price spike. Current prices in the Victorian Declared Wholesale Gas Market (DWGM) have been tracking in the $20-40/GJ range since early May 2022, with prices hitting $50/GJ on 30 May. Prices in the other gas hubs of Sydney and Brisbane...

  • Business supply and services

    REGO prices end their upwards march for FMD21-22

    In this 'Chart of the week', we explore some of the latest price trends for REGO certificates for use in the 2021-22 Fuel Mix Disclosure (FMD) year, which builds on last week’s Chart of the Week which showed how REGO-backed supply has remained important to business energy customers.

  • Low carbon generation

    Electric Vehicles vs reactive power controllability of inverter-based resources

    Electric Vehicles (EVs) are quickly plugging into electricity distribution systems (EDS) around the world. Their take up introduces new challenges due to their random and high energy consumption. One of the important challenges associated with integrating EVs into EDS is voltage imbalance due to EV uptake in residential areas. This...

  • Business supply and services

    REGOs still highly valued by business customers in 2021

    Renewable energy continued to be a focal point in Cornwall Insight’s 2021 Third Party Intermediary (TPI) satisfaction survey. The annual survey addressed the importance of a supplier’s green credentials for the second year in a row, finding that there is shifting interest in green energy from non-domestic customers and that...

  • Power and gas networks

    Rate me

    The transmission network in the National Electricity Market (NEM) is protected from overloads in times of events or during normal operation by nominating thermal ratings on primary elements (such as transmission lines and transformers), against which the real-time electricity flows should not be larger. This limitation is important in the...

  • Power and gas networks

    Full house – launch of Dynamic Moderation completes National Grid’s response toolkit

    National Grid ESO’s (NGESO) Dynamic Moderation (DM) service launched on the 6 April, with the first auction held at 14:30 on the EPEX platform. DM is the third and final new frequency response product that the ESO has introduced to better manage frequency deviations in a high-renewables grid. This 'Chart...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Winter is coming: MT PASA scheduled coal outages for winter?

    The number of thermal generator problems continues to grow, and so does peak time volatility in the two northern states. On top of the closure of Unit 3 at Liddell occurring on 1 April and Unit 4 at Callide C still out without a public resolution, outages and problems have...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Chart of the week | The summer of our discontent?

    Wholesale power and gas prices have surged significantly in the past year and have been highly volatile alongside rapidly unfolding geopolitical events. This summer, the overall direction of energy prices could move in a number of ways, dependent on further sanctions and counter-sanctions between Russia and the West, as well...

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