Australian Daily Electrical Power Generation Data – Thursday 24th January 2019

Posted on Fri 01/25/2019 by

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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 24th January 2019

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 – 19960MW (3.05AM)

Daily Peak Power Consumption – 33200MW (5.00PM)

Daily Minimum Generated Power – 20500MW

Daily Maximum Generated Power – 33700MW

Average Total Power Generation – 28250MW

Total Power Generation In GWH – 678GWH

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 – 15760MW

Daily Peak Coal Fired – 19510MW

Average Coal Fired Generation – 18100MW

Total Generated Power – 434.4GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 64.07%

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 – 1530MW

Daily Peak – 8490MW

Average Natural Gas Fired Generation – 4440MW

Total Generated Power – 106.56GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 15.72%

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 – 3100MW

Daily Peak – 6900MW

Average Renewable Generation – 4460MW

Total Generated Power – 107.04GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 15.79%

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 – 1250MW

Total Generated Power – 30GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 4.42%

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 main 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 – 710MW

Daily Peak – 4810MW

Average Hydro Generation – 2140MW

Total Generated Power – 51.36GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 7.58%

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 5661MW.

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 – 940MW (3.35PM)

Daily Peak – 2690MW (12.50AM)

Average Wind Generation – 1800MW

Total Generated Power – 43.2GWH

Average Percentage Of Total – 6.37%

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 area you can just see in that top image.

The total Nameplate for all these 29 solar plants is 2241MW.

Daily Minimum – Zero

Daily Peak – 1480MW

Average Solar Plant Generation for hours of generation – 930MW (6.00AM till 7.30PM)

Average Solar Plant Generation across the whole 24 hour day – 520MW

Total Generated Power – 12.48GWH

Average Percentage Of Total across the whole 24 hour day – 1.84%

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 – 4290MW

Average For Hours of Generation – 2300MW (5.30AM till 8.00PM)

Average Rooftop Solar Generation across the whole 24 hour day – 1390MW

Total Generated Power – 33.36GWH

Average Percentage Of Total across the whole 24 hour day – 4.92%

Wind And Solar Power Generation Versus Total Power Generation

This image shows the total power generated from all the wind plants, and all the solar power plants in this coverage area, combined in the one image, and compares it to the overall total generated power, the black line at the top of the graph. Wind power is the green coloured area, and solar plant power is the red coloured area, and these are the same as shown in those other coloured images at the top of the Post.

I have also added the total generated power for both wind and solar plant power combined, and the percentage of the overall total below for the maximum power from both sources with respect to the overall total, both at the maximum for both, and then for the total for both at the daily peak Power time.

Daily Peak for Wind and Solar Plant Power – 3400MW

Average Across the whole day – 2320MW

Total Generated Power – 55.68GWH

Average Percentage of Total across the whole 24 hour day – 8.21%

Total Generated power at the daily maximum for both wind and solar plant power, the time of that maximum, and percentage of the total at that daily maximum –  3400MW – 9.45AM – 12.88%

Total Generated power for wind and solar plant power at Peak Power Consumption time for the day, and percentage of total at that daily Peak Power time – 2100MW – 5.00PM – 6.23%

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

This was the day of the largest power consumption for the Summer so far, and tomorrow is predicted to be even higher than today. Overall power generation rose to meet that increased consumption. Note again the two major points for the day, that low point, the Base Load, at around 3AM, and here it was 20500MW. Then note the evening peak of 33700MW, the highest so far this Summer. That overall average for power generation was also the highest so far this Summer, at an average of 28250MW per hour. As part of this increased power generation, Victoria and South Australia, the two States which have removed all, (South Australia) and some (Victoria) of their coal fired power, actually had to bring on line their specially installed diesel powered generators to try and cover the increased Demand in both of their States, and the cost of power rose astronomically in both of those States because of that, not just spiking momentarily to the huge amounts, but spending hours at $14500/MWH, and yes, you have read that correctly, fourteen thousand five hundred dollars per MegaWattHour. You can see those Diesels on line on that graph for those smaller Other sources, and that is the darker green colour on top of the light green colour on that graph. Those diesels were on line from 2.30PM till 11.30PM, and for some hours, they delivered just 400MW into the grid, such a tiny amount of the overall, just 1.2% of all generated power, and yet costing that enormous price.

The average for coal fired power was actually lower on the day, down by a small 50MW to an average of 18100MW. In New South Wales, Unit 2 at the ancient Liddell plant went off line at midnight starting this day and at 1.30AM it was back to zero. With one Unit down in Queensland, and two in Victoria, there are now four of those coal fired Units off line. Note the difference between the low on the day and the high at around that evening peak, and that gap was under 4000MW, mainly due to those extra Units off line.

The average for natural gas fired power, as you would expect on a day of huge need, was way up, to the highest I have seen so far, a rise of 790MW to an hourly average of 4440MW, and note on that second graph the gap between coal fired power, the lower black line and all fossil fuels is so large, as all of that is from natural gas fired Units coming on line to cover that evening Peak, and from the next graph down, just for natural gas fired power, and you can see from that how much higher that is at that evening peak, up to a maximum of 8490MW, a huge amount of power coming from them.

The average for hydro power was also higher, a rise of 580MW to an average of 2140MW, also contributing big time at that evening peak. Note here that huge hydro plant Murray One and Two was on line from 7AM till 11PM, contributing a huge amount of power from this one hydro plant in the Snowy Scheme.

You can also see just how much extra was delivered from those smaller Other sources, also the highest I have seen that, up by 290MW to 1250MW, helped by those exorbitantly expensive diesel generators installed expressly to just cover events like this, needed now more than ever after the old Hazelwood plant was closed in Victoria, a loss of 1600MW, which would have been sorely needed today.

The average for solar plant power was higher on the day, up by 50MW to 520MW, a good result for Summer, but hey, still only 1.8% of the required power.

On a day when power consumption rose, and generation rose to cover that, note here that the only source of power generation to fall on the day was wind power, down by a small 10MW to an average of 1800MW, and while you may think of that as small, considering the total Nameplate for wind power, this is in fact just a little better than AVERAGE for wind power, because that total of 1800MW for wind power gave wind a daily operational Capacity Factor of 31.8%, a little higher actually than the year round average of 30%

So, here we have wind power and solar power totalling out at delivering just 8.21% of all the required power needed on the day when all power is so desperately needed. The only reason that renewable power was so high on the day, at only 15.8% is solely due to the fact that hydro power was so high.

Note that because the overall was so high, and coal fired power actually higher even than usual, coal fired power delivered only 64% of all the required power needed on this day.

And tomorrow is tipped to be even higher than today.

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

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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