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 all of the images, and that even though they look similar in size of generation, that scale (the total power shown on the left hand vertical axis) has been changed to show the graph at a larger size to better fit the image for that graph.
Friday 6th September 2019
Total Power Generation All Sources
Here, the total power generation from every power plant source is the top of the load curve, with each colour indicating a source of power generation. 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. The other colours mixed in with the rest of them are from those smaller Other sources. 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 – 17830MW (4.00AM)
Daily Peak Power Consumption – 25370MW (6.30PM)
Daily Minimum Generated Power – 18400MW (4.00AM)
Daily Maximum Generated Power – 26400MW (6.30PM)
Average Total Power Generation – 22600MW
Total Power Generation In GWH – 542.4GWH
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 for all three colours, the grey, dark yellow and purple colours combined in the image directly above.
The black line just under that top black line is the Sub Total just for coal fired power, and that is the same as the combined colours of the grey and dark yellow on the image above. 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 – 13650MW
Daily Peak Coal Fired – 16020MW
Average Coal Fired Generation – 14840MW
Total Generated Power – 356.16GWH
Average Percentage Of Total – 65.66%
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 – 800MW
Daily Peak – 3340MW
Average Natural Gas Fired Generation – 1610MW
Total Generated Power – 38.64GWH
Average Percentage Of Total – 7.13%
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 the three 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) and those smaller Other sources 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 (that black line, which also includes RTS as well) 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 – 3600MW
Daily Peak – 7500MW
Average Renewable Generation – 5650MW
Total Generated Power – 135.6GWH
Average Percentage Of Total – 25.00%
Generation From Other Sources
This image shows the power being generated from the 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 – 500MW
Total Generated Power – 12GWH
Average Percentage Of Total – 2.21%
Hydro Power Generation
This image shows all Hydro power generation. It is the same as the blue colour 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 – 1010MW
Daily Peak – 2990MW
Average Hydro Generation – 1660MW
Total Generated Power – 39.84GWH
Average Percentage Of Total – 7.35%
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 green coloured line in the image at the top showing generation from all sources.
The total Nameplate for all these wind plants is 6702MW, from a total of 55 wind plants.
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 in Winter and earlier during the Summer Months.)
Daily Minimum – 2330MW (12.05AM)
Daily Peak – 4790MW (9.05PM)
Average Wind Generation – 3460MW
Total Generated Power – 83.04GWH
Average Percentage Of Total – 15.31%
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 41 solar plants is 3075MW.
Daily Minimum – Zero
Daily Peak – 1760MW
Average Solar Plant Generation for hours of generation – 1110MW (6.30AM till 6.00PM)
Average Solar Plant Generation across the whole 24 hour day – 530MW
Total Generated Power – 12.72GWH
Average Percentage Of Total across the whole 24 hour day – 2.34%
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 8000MW and higher, and that is a large total. However, that total equates to almost 2 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 is only consumed in the local residential areas. While seemingly still high this total is spread across that huge number of installations across the whole of this coverage area.
Daily Minimum – Zero
Daily Peak – 4330MW
Average For Hours of Generation – 2150MW (6.30AM till 6.00PM)
Average Rooftop Solar Generation across the whole 24 hour day – 1030MW
Total Generated Power – 24.72GWH
Average Percentage Of Total across the whole 24 hour day – 4.56%
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, which also includes RTS as well. 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 data below for 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 – 5400MW
Average Across the whole day – 3990MW
Total Generated Power – 95.76GWH
Average Percentage of Total across the whole 24 hour day – 27.34%
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 – 5400MW – 2.30PM – 24.22%
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 – 4500MW – 6.30PM – 17.05%
Overall Total With Rooftop Solar Power Added
This image shows the overall total generated power with Rooftop Solar Power (RTS) added to the total from all of the power plants. RTS is shown here as that orange colour added near the top of the graph in the middle, during daylight hours, and is indicated on the legend below the graph as Rooftop PV (PhotoVoltaics). The new overall total is that black line along the top of the Load Curve. Note here that with this RTS total added, the shape of the full load curve, the black line now looks almost exactly as Summer load curves used to look prior to the advent of RTS, and all those panels on roofs of private dwellings.
Notes
- 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.
- 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.
- For total power in GWH, multiply the average daily power by 24, and then divide by 1000.
- The total percentages for coal fired power, natural gas fired power, all renewables, and those other smaller sources add up to 100%.
- The total percentages for Hydro, Wind, and Solar adds up to the total percentage for all Renewables.
- Total Generated Power is expressed here as GWH (GigaWattHours) and a GWH is a MWH (MegaWattHour) multiplied by 1000
Comments For This Day
Overall power consumption rose slightly on this day, up by 2.4%, and the total power generation for the day came in at 542.4GWH, at an hourly average of 22600MW, a rise when compared to the average of the day before of 550MW. Incidentally, my main aim here is to keep things as simple as possible, so all of this can be more easily understood by readers who have no real background in electrical theory, and that’s why I try and simplify things. To that end, I quote that hourly average in MW. However, that average is in fact the same as expressing it in MWH (MegaWattHours) and that can be easily checked by multiplying that hourly average I use (in MW) by 24 (hours in a day) to give the daily total for each day, and for example, the average for this day is 22600MW, so multiplying that by 24 gives 542400MWH in the day, and then dividing that by 1000 (to give a more easily expressed, and shorter number) we get the daily total for this day of that 542.4GWH. (GigaWattHours)
The early AM Base Load was at the usual time of 4AM, and it was 18400MW, higher than the day before by 100MW. The evening peak was26400MW, and that was 400MW higher than the day before’s level, also at around the usual time for this time of year, and that was at 6.30PM. Across the five States with their individual peaks at differing times, the peak in New South Wales (NSW) was 250MW lower. In Queensland, the peak there was 130MW lower. In Victoria, their peak was 310MW higher. In the two States with the lowest power consumption, the peak in South Australia was 90MW higher, and in Tasmania, it was that same 90MW higher there as well.
With that overall higher, then coal fired power was also higher, but only by a marginally smaller amount, just up by 30MW to an hourly average of 14840MW. The range between the low for the day and the high was 2370MW, and on this day, coal fired power generated a maximum of 16020MW. In Queensland, Unit 1 at the Millmerran plant went off line immediately at 6.30PM, indicating a problem, rather than the steady lowering to zero that normally occurs with a staged decrease for maintenance purposes. Also in Queensland, Unit 1 at that Stanwell plant, recently back on line after that major overhaul and Upgrade, well, the Unit was run up to 385MW a3PM, and stayed at that level for the remainder of the day. That 385MW is 105% of the maximum for the Unit, which is a 365MW Unit, so it can in fact operate at above the maximum output for periods of time. There are now ten of those coal fired Units off line two in Victoria, and four each in NSW and Queensland.
The average for natural gas fired power was well down on the day, lower by 1160MW to an average of 1610MW. The average for those smaller Other sources was also lower on the day, down by 100MW. The average for hydro power was also down on the day, lower by 280MW, and at 1660MW, actually a higher average than for natural gas fired power. The average for solar power plants was slightly lower on the day, down by just 20MW.
As yo may guess with those three non coal fired sources well down, then you would expect wind power to be much higher, and as you can see from the power load curve for wind power, it increased steadily across the day with good winds in that area where there is the largest concentration of those wind plants. Wind power was way up on the day, one of the better days in recent times, and that average was higher by a whopping 2080MW to an hourly average of 3460MW, and that gave wind power a daily operational Capacity Factor of 51.63%, more than 20% higher than the year round average for wind power.
On a day when the overall was higher, and coal fired power just a little higher, coal fired power, with 20% of the fleet of coal fired Units off line still managed to deliver 65.66% of all the generated 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.
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Posted on Sat 09/07/2019 by TonyfromOz
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