Australian Daily Electrical Power Generation Data – Wednesday 18th July 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.

Wednesday 18th July 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 – 18900MW

Daily Peak Power Consumption – 27930MW

Daily Minimum Generated Power – 19600MW

Daily Maximum Generated Power – 29000MW

Average Total Power Generation – 24000MW

Total Power Generation In GWH – 576GWH

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 – 18700MW

Average Coal Fired Generation – 17200MW

Total Generated Power – 412.8GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 71.67%

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 – 550MW

Daily Peak – 3250MW

Average Natural Gas Fired Generation – 1350MW

Total Generated Power – 32.4GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 5.62%

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 – 4200MW

Daily Peak – 7100MW

Average Renewable Generation – 5450MW

Total Generated Power – 130.8GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 22.71%

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 – 1450MW

Daily Peak – 3850MW

Average Hydro Generation – 2340MW

Total Generated Power – 56.16GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 9.75%

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 – 2500MW

Daily Peak – 3450MW

Average Wind Generation – 3010MW

Total Generated Power – 72.24GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 12.54%

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 – 500MW

Average Solar Plant Generation for hours of generation – 250MW (7.30AM till 5.30PM) (Overcast and cloudy at some sites)

Average Solar Plant Generation across the whole 24 hour day – 100MW

Total Generated Power – 2.4GWH

Average Percentage Of Total across the whole 24 hour day– 0.42%

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 – 4200MW

Average For Hours of Generation – 2650MW (7.30AM till 5.30PM)

Average Rooftop Solar Generation across the whole 24 hour day – 1100MW

Total Generated Power – 26.4GWH

Average Percentage Of Total across the whole 24 hour day – 4.58%

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, and then divide by 1000.
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.
6. Total Generated Power is expressed here as GWH (GigaWattHours) and a GWH is a MWH (MegaWattHour) multiplied by 1000

Comments For This Day

The figures for today were slightly down on yesterday, but not by much.

The minimum power consumption, that 4AM Base Load, was 100MW lower, and at the peak power consumption time at 5.30/6PM, it was 560MW lower.

The average for power generation from every source was 400MW lower, at 24000MW, from a low of just under 19000MW to a high of just under 29000MW.

The average for coal fired power was 100MW lower at 17200MW, and there were still five of those coal fired Units off line, still the two in New South Wales, two in Queensland and one in Victoria. The variation in delivered power from those coal fired sources was from a low of 14800MW to a high of 18700MW. I have mentioned this again, because, again, in some media reports, it was mentioned that coal fired power is not really suitable because it can take sometimes many days to ramp up its power and is best used when just delivering at its maximum power, and it has far less efficiency because of that, designed to operate only at maximum. As you can see just from those figures I have mentioned, the low point and the high point, coal fired power ramps up and down TWICE on a daily basis, not taking days, but in fact on an hourly basis, and the variation from the low to the high is 4000MW, up and down, every day to match perfectly the actual consumption of power, and you can see that when you look at the second image from the top, above and see both black lines, and then compare that with the first image which shows that blue line for all fossil fuels, matching the total power generation shown with that black line above the blue one, and that upper black line on the second image is the same as the blue line on the first image. So, as you can plainly see, coal fired power ramps up and down on that short term basis of a few hours to up in the morning, then back down, and then back up for the evening peak, and then back down to the overnight 4AM minimum point. Coal fired power, while delivering at a slightly less average on this day, was still delivering almost 72% of all the power needed to keep everything operational.

The average for wind power was slightly lower on this day, down by 260MW to an average of 3010MW, so the daily operational Capacity factor for wind power on this day was still high at 57.6%, but keep in mind here that even at its best, wind power is still only delivering 12.5% of the power needed.

The averages for natural gas fired power (down by 50MW) and hydro power (up by 30MW) were basically the same as what they were yesterday, and the average for solar power was 20MW lower, still at less than half of one percent of what was required.

Doing this data and commentary on a daily basis has been eye opening for me, and while it seems to tell not very much on the surface, I now have the actual data on that daily basis that I can refer to. Every time I read something about coal fired power in the media, and in nearly every case, it’s putting down coal fired power, I can refute those arguments, and now have the actual data to show just that, rather than point out the yearly data which is in nearly every case, almost a year out of date, and only gives an overall yearly outlook on, and in doing this on a daily basis, I can see what happens sometimes as it actually happens, on a minute to minute basis, and have that information out within hours of the day actually ending, not one year behind, after a further six Months to compile the report, so 18 Months out of date.

That is what is so good about this new Series.

It also confirms (and solidly confirms at that) that coal fired power has an undeserved reputation, because it is the major supplier, does that on an hourly, daily and weekly basis, and does it with reliability.

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, 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