Australian Daily Electrical Power Generation Data – Friday 7th December 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.

Friday 7th December 2018

Total Power Generation All Sources

Here, the black line across the top of the graph shows the total power generation from every source. This is also similar to the total power consumption, which is slightly lower after minor grid losses are taken into account.

The dark grey colour is for the black coal fired power generation. The yellowish colour is for the brown coal fired power generation. The purple colour is for natural gas fired power generation. The blue colour is for Hydro (water) power generation. The green colour is for wind power generation. The red colour in the dip between the two peaks is for solar power plant generation. Rooftop solar power is not included on this graph, as this shows just the power generation from all power plants only.

In the data below, 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. Also, 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 – 18360MW

Daily Peak Power Consumption – 27930MW

Daily Minimum Generated Power – 18700MW

Daily Maximum Generated Power – 28300MW

Average Total Power Generation – 24500MW

Total Power Generation In GWH – 588GWH

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 – 13980MW

Daily Peak Coal Fired – 18150MW

Average Coal Fired Generation – 1660MW

Total Generated Power – 404.64GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 68.82%

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 – 880MW

Daily Peak – 4330MW

Average Natural Gas Fired Generation – 2100MW

Total Generated Power – 50.4GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 8.57%

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 grey, yellow and purple colours) removed from the graph, As in that top image, it shows Hydro Power, (blue colour) wind power, (green colour) and solar power. (red colour)  This image is used here 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 blue colour is for hydro, the green colour is for wind, and the red colour is for solar. The other colours you can just make out 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. For this data, I have added the times for the daily minimum, and the daily maximum, to show how they do not correlate with the actual times of minimum power consumption (4AM) and maximum power consumption. (around 6/6.30PM)

Daily Minimum – 3000MW

Daily Peak – 6900MW

Average Renewable Generation – 4930MW

Total Generated Power – 118.32GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 20.12%

Generation From Other Sources

This image shows the power being generated from the seven smaller sources other than the major sources of power generation. These include Natural Gas/Diesel, Natural gas/Fuel Oil, Coal Seam Methane, Diesel, Kerosene, Waste Coal Mine Gas and Bagasse. All of these are fossil Fuels, excepting Bagasse which is sugar cane waste mostly used to provide main and auxilliary power at sugar mills.

Note the scale change here, as these are smaller producers of power, and the scale is changed so they can be more easily shown on the graph.

For the data here, I have just added the average generation across the day, the total generated power from all these sources, and the percentage of the total.

Average Generation – 610MW

Total Generated Power – 14.64GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 2.49%

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 – 760MW

Daily Peak – 3790MW

Average Hydro Generation – 2290MW

Total Generated Power – 54.96GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 9.35%

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 5452MW.

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.

For this data, I have added the times for the daily minimum, and the daily maximum, to show how they do not correlate with the actual times of minimum power consumption (4AM) and maximum power consumption. (around 6/6.30PM)

Daily Minimum – 1120MW (11.50PM)

Daily Peak – 3160MW (4.40AM)

Average Wind Generation – 2220MW

Total Generated Power – 53.28GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 9.06%

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 29 solar plants is 2021MW.

Daily Minimum – Zero

Daily Peak – 1220MW

Average Solar Plant Generation for hours of generation – 710MW (5.30AM till 7.30PM)

Average Solar Plant Generation across the whole 24 hour day – 420MW

Total Generated Power – 10.08GWH

Average Percentage Of Total across the whole 24 hour day – 1.71%

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 – 3840MW

Average For Hours of Generation – 2010MW (5.00AM till 7.30PM)

Average Rooftop Solar Generation across the whole 24 hour day – 1210MW

Total Generated Power – 29.04GWH

Average Percentage Of Total across the whole 24 hour day – 4.94%

Notes

1. Finding Averages – On each (non solar) graph, there are 25 hourly time points, starting with midnight and finishing with midnight. I have added the total at each time point together, and divided by 25.
2. For both solar power averages, I have used the same addition of hourly time points and then divided by the same number of those time points of actual generation. Every so often, as the days get longer (or shorter after Summer) I change the hours of generation as those hours change.
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, all renewables, and those other smaller sources add 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

That Summer increase in power consumption is beginning to kick in across the Country, and on this day, that power consumption spiked, again led by the two Southern States, and overall power generation rose substantially to cover that increase in Demand, generation up by 1000MW over yesterday’s high average. That overall average for power generation was up to 24500MW and the evening peak was higher by 600MW to 28300MW.

The average for coal fired power was actually a little lower on the day, down to an average of 16860MW per hour, a fall of 100MW, and again, the gap between the low point and high point of generation was over 4000MW. Another of those coal fired Units went off line today, and this one was Unit 2 at the Yallourn W plant in Victoria. Note here the time it went off line, at 10.30PM on a Friday night. Victoria is the State which has had the highest spike in power consumption, so they are the ones who can least afford to have large single Unit generators like this going off line, so this one went down well after the evening peak, and it now has two days of the usual lower power consumption to do its maintenance, and be ready to come back on line on the Monday working day when it will be needed the most. There are now eight of those coal fired Units off line across the Country, three of them in that critical State of Victoria.

With such a large 1000MW rise in power generation, the other sources all contributed to make up the extra which was needed. The average for natural gas fired power was up by 200MW to an hourly average of 2100MW, again most of that in the States of Victoria, and to a slightly lesser extent, in South Australia. The average for hydro power was higher by 380MW, again nearly all of that rise coming from the large Murray One and Two hydro plants in the Snowy Hydro Scheme supplying into Victoria, the State which needs it the most, and you can again see that from the hydro graph where that large supplier is shown by the green coloured line, showing how Murray Hydro came on line at around 7AM, and then started to ramp even higher at around 10AM to deliver around 1300MW across those hours of highest consumption till it wound back at around 9PM, after that evening peak.

You can also notice the increase in the power delivered from those smaller Other sources, up by 50MW to a year high so far of an average of 610MW per hour, and while a small supplier with many different Units, it still delivered more power (+190MW) than all of those solar power plants combined, and those solar power plants had an average that was 40MW lower than it was yesterday.

Wind power had a good day, luckily, because on a day of higher consumption like this, all suppliers need to contribute, and this was one day when wind power did help out, but again, note that when power consumption was at its highest during that evening peak, wind power was at its lowest point for the day, only contributing around 4% of what was required during that peak. So much for wind helping out, because that average was high for the day at 2200MW, higher by 510MW per hour, and giving wind power a daily operational Capacity Factor of 40.7%.

With power generation rising by so much and coal fired power falling slightly, coal fired power fell below 70% of the total power requirements across the day.

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

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