Australian Daily Electrical Power Generation Data – Thursday 7th June 2018

By Anton Lang ~

This Post details the daily power consumption data for the AEMO coverage area in Australia. For the background information, refer to the Introductory Post at this link.

Each image is shown here at a smaller size to fit on the page alongside the data for that day. If you click on each image, it will open on a new page and at a larger size so you can better see the detail.

Note also the scale change for some of the images. That scale (the total power shown on the left hand axis) has been changed to show the graph at a larger size.

Thursday 7th June 2018

Total Power Generation All Sources

Here, the black line is the total power generation from every source. This is also the same as for total power consumption, which is slightly lower after minor grid losses are taken into account.

The Blue line is all fossil fuelled power generation. The orange line is hydro power generation. The purple line is wind power generation, and the red line is for solar power generation.

Both of those (exact) figures for total power consumption for the daily minimum and the daily Peak are taken directly from the AEMO site, adding up the totals for each of the five States in this coverage area.

Note the slight difference between Total Consumed Power and Total Generated Power. That indicates some of the losses in the grid system.

Daily Minimum Power Consumption – 18520MW

Daily Peak Power Consumption – 27340MW

Daily Minimum Generated Power – 19300MW

Daily Maximum Generated Power – 28100MW

Average Total Power Generation – 23900MW

Total Power Generation In GWH – 573.6GWH

All Fossil Fuels Total – Coal Fired and Natural Gas Fired Power Generation

Here, the upper black line is the total from all fossil fuels, and this is the same as the blue line in the image directly above.

The black line just under that top black line is the Sub Total just for coal fired power. Note here how closely that coal fired line follows the shape of the upper Load Curve, and this indicates that coal fired power can be ramped up and down to follow actual power consumption.

Daily Minimum Coal Fired – 14800MW

Daily Peak Coal Fired – 18000MW (this maximum was at 8.30AM, and not at the usual time of 5.30/6PM)

Average Coal Fired Generation – 16500MW

Total Generated Power – 396GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 69.04%

Natural Gas Fired Power Generation

This image for Natural Gas Fired Power Generation shows the gap between the total for all Fossil Fuelled Sources of power generation and Coal Fired Power Generation in the image directly above.

Note here how closely the shape follows the total power generation Load Curve in the top image, indicating how these natural gas fired plants are used to smooth out the load curve to match actual power consumption.

Note also that while coal fired power provides the bulk of the power, these natural gas fired plants are used to add more power to the system during those time periods during the day when consumption rises for the morning peak, and the main evening Peak

Daily Minimum – 750MW

Daily Peak – 5000MW

Average Natural Gas Fired Generation – 2050MW

Total Generated Power – 49.2GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 8.58%

All Renewable Power Generation Versus Total Power Generation

This Image shows just the gap between total power generation from every source and the total power from renewable sources only. It is the same image as the first image at the top here, only with the fossil fuelled total (the blue line) removed from the graph, As in that top image, it shows Hydro Power, (orange line) wind power, (purple line) and solar power. (red line) What I have then done is added the black line just above those coloured lines and this indicates the Sub Total of power from those three renewable sources only. This is to highlight the gap between the total power generation and the total from renewable sources alone.

All Renewable Power Generation (Does not include rooftop solar generation)

This image is the same as for the one directly above for all renewable power, only with the total from all sources removed from the graph. As the scale of the left hand vertical axis has now changed, you can better see the detail of all renewable power. Again, the orange line is for hydro, the purple line is for wind, and the red line is for solar, and the black line is the Sub total for all renewable power. The other colour just showing indicates smaller plants, mostly using biofuels as their fuel source, tiny plants adding up to a very small total and for a short time duration.

Daily Minimum – 4000MW

Daily Peak – 7500MW

Average Renewable Generation – 5350MW

Total Generated Power – 128.4GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 22.38%

Hydro Power Generation

This image shows all Hydro power generation. It is the same as the orange line in the top image for power generation from all sources.

Again, note here that the shape of this load curve follows the shape of the main load curve for all power generation, in that it has similar peaks in the morning and for the man evening Peak. The coloured lines at the bottom of this graph indicate the power generation from each of the hydro plants in this coverage area.

Daily Minimum – 700MW

Daily Peak – 4300MW

Average Hydro Generation – 2130MW

Total Generated Power – 51.12GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 8.91%

Wind Power Generation

This image shows the total power generated by every wind plant in this vast coverage area. It is the same as for the purple coloured line in the image at the top showing generation from all sources.

The total Nameplate for all these wind plants is just under 5225MW.

Note that the shape of this load curve does not follow the shape of the main load curve for total power generation. Wind power generates its power only when the wind is blowing, hence it does not follow actual power consumption levels.

Daily Minimum – 2750MW

Daily Peak – 3500MW

Average Wind Generation – 3130MW

Total Generated Power – 75.12GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 13.1%

Solar Power Plant Generation

This image shows the total power generated from all the solar power plants in this coverage area. This is the same as for the red coloured line you can just see in that top image.

The total Nameplate for all these 16 solar plants is just lower than 1000MW.

Daily Minimum – Zero

Daily Peak – 370MW (some peaks to 420MW in cloudy conditions at some sites)

Average Solar Plant Generation for hours of generation – 220MW (7.30AM till 5.30PM)

Average Solar Plant Generation across the whole 24 hour day – 90MW

Total Generated Power – 2.16GWH

Average Percentage Of Total across the whole 24 hour day– 0.38%

Rooftop Solar Power Generation

As this source of power generation is classed as ‘behind the meter’, it is not included in the total power generation. Note here that the State of Queensland (QLD on the legend under the graph) is broken down into four separate areas as this is the largest State with the largest number of installations.

While the total Nameplate changes often, the latest information is that the total is now 7800MW, and that is a large total. However, that total equates to 1.8 Million homes with panels on their roof. That equates to an average sized installation of 4.3KW. Most of the power is consumed by the homes with the panels, and what is fed back to the grid, while seemingly still high is spread across that huge number of installations across the whole of this coverage area.

Daily Minimum – Zero

Daily Peak – 2450MW

Average For Hours of Generation – 1520MW (7AM till 5.30PM)

Average Rooftop Solar Generation across the whole 24 hour day – 665MW

Total Generated Power – 15.96GWH

Average Percentage Of Total across the whole 24 hour day – 2.78%

Notes

1. Finding Averages – On each graph there are 9 time points. Add the total at each time point together, and divide by 9. For coal fired power, I do this on a State by State basis (for the 3 States with coal fired power) and then add the total for each State together.
2. For both solar power averages, I have used the average for a (half) Sine Wave which is 0.637 of the Peak value.
3. For total power in GWH, multiply the average daily power by 24.
4. The total percentages for coal fired power, natural gas fired power and all renewables adds up to 100%.
5. The total percentages for Hydro, Wind, and Solar adds up to the total percentage for all Renewables.

Comments For This Day

Barely two days ago, on the Tuesday, three large coal fired Units went off line, and one of them is now back on line at full power. On this day a similar thing also happened as well. Bayswater Unit 2 went down slowly, a staged lowering, most probably for scheduled maintenance. Then, just as it reached zero, the big Unit at Vales Point (Unit 6) also went down, falling to zero immediately. This took almost 1400MW straight out of the New South Wales grid.

You can actually see that on the graph second from the top, and here, look at that lower black line. It’s at around 10.30 and you can see that fall there as that line dips. The scale here is larger than for other graphs, but let me show you here how well the grid controllers coped with something as major as this.

Look now at the graph immediately under that on, which shows the natural gas fired power generation. See how, at the same time as those coal fired Units went down, there is a slight upwards spike in the power generation. That is around 250MW, and can be achieved by those fast starting OCGT (Open Cycle Gas Turbine) natural gas fired Units.

Now, go down two graphs to the hydro power generation graph and note the same upwards spike at the same time, this one however, much larger, almost an extra 750MW in all. This came from a source actually capable of doing something like this at such short notice the large pumped hydro power plat at Tumut Three. Firstly, as that Unit at Bayswater started its staging down, one Unit came on line, and when Vales Point went down, a second unit at Tumut Three also came immediately on line. One of the small Units at the Shoalhaven pumped hydro also came on line, adding a further 120MW at the same time.

The fact that those pumped hydro Units did come on line at that time indicates that the drop in the Bayswater coal fired Unit was scheduled, as that all happened at the same time, and the extra happened when the Unit at Vales Point went down.

Both of these sources (natural gas and hydro) immediately made up for that lost power from those two large coal fired Units, all of them in New South Wales.

Some people might say that it was wind power which saved the day here, but luckily these graphs show the actual truth of the matter. True, wind power was high on this day, actually way up, at 3130MW , and that’s at a Capacity Factor of almost 60%, double the yearly average. However, when something like this happens, you need to realise here that all the power (from every source) is already allocated and being consumed so with a loss of power, then new power generation is required, and that came from natural gas and hydro in this case.

On an overall basis, power consumption was slightly lower, both at the minimum and also at the daily Peak, and power generation overall was also slightly lower, reflecting that lowering of consumption.

The 24 hour average for all power consumption was 400MW lower.

Even with those coal fired Units going down, coal fired power overall was only lower by 200MW, so, with a loss of 1400MW, you can see that those other Units ramped up their power delivery so that they were only 200MW lower on the day. That Unit at Eraring which slowly came back on line earlier in the week is now also back at its full power generation level of over 700MW. While all these drops in power from coal fired Units have been in New South Wales, that State has been getting power also from its adjoining States Queensland and Victoria via those respective Interconnectors between these States.

The average for hydro power was only 100MW lower, even after ramping up at that point coal fired power dropped so significantly, and again, that is a reflection of what I mentioned yesterday, the fact that the Basslink Interconnector to Tasmania was back on line, now slowly building up its power delivery, now back to almost two thirds of its maximum, so hydro power was a lot less in Tasmania.

As I mentioned above, wind power was way up on the day as those differences in the pressure gradients between the deep Low, and the following High. The average for wind power generation was up by a whopping 2120MW, and having said that, look again for confirmation of what I have always been saying, that it is natural gas fired power which makes up for those differences when wind power is high or low. Here, on this day, wind was up by that 2120MW, and look now at that average for natural gas fired power, which was 1310MW lower.

Note again that even when there are problems like these in the coal fired power generation sector, they are quite easily covered, and even such large losses of power, as seen on both Tuesday, and now on the Thursday, that coal fired power doesn’t change all that much overall, again firmly emphasasing its ability to deliver huge amounts of power on a constant basis, and with a reliability factor as well, even when there are these drops in power.

Anton Lang uses the screen name of TonyfromOz, and he writes at this site, PA Pundits International on topics related to electrical power generation, from all sources, concentrating mainly on Renewable Power, and how the two most favoured methods of renewable power generation, Wind Power and all versions of Solar Power, fail comprehensively to deliver levels of power required to replace traditional power generation. His Bio is at this link.

OzPowerGenerationTFO

Tagged: Australian Electrical Power Consumption, Australian Electrical Power Generation, Australian Electrical Power Statistics, Australian Renewable Power, Coal Fired Power Generation, Electrical Power Load Curves, Solar Power Generation, Wind Power Generation

Posted in: Australia, Climate Change, Coal Fired Power, Electrical Power Generation, Hydro Electric Power, Natural Gas Fired Power, Politics, Public Opinion, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, Wind Power