The wintry blast sweeping across eastern Australia has set a record for electricity demand in Victoria and propelled wind generation in New South Wales to new highs, with energy authorities preparing for another power peak on Tuesday evening.
Victoria broke a 17-year record for maximum winter electricity demand, with the tally reaching 8,612 megawatts at 6pm on Monday, the Australian Energy Market Operator said.
The demand beat the previous record set in July 2007 by more than 250MW, but that may be challenged as soon as Tuesday evening, Aemo said. By mid-afternoon, temperatures across much of Melbourne were 10C or less with wind chill taken into effect.
A cold snap has seen Victoria break a 17-year winter record for maximum electricity demand – 8,612 MW at 6:00 PM last night. The previous record of 8,351 MW was on 17 July 2007.
— AEMO (@AEMO_Energy) July 16, 2024
AEMO will work with industry to keep the electricity on during another expected peak-demand tonight. pic.twitter.com/Tf7K8C0ZLf
The windy and cold conditions brought snow to elevated regions from Tasmania to NSW. Gusts topped 100km/h at Mount Hotham and Thredbo ski resorts, Weatherzone said.
Windfarms, though, were in their element, supplying as much as a third of the National Electricity Market’s power early on Tuesday morning.
The NEM covers about 80% of Australia’s population, spanning from Queensland to Tasmania and South Australia.
Windy, sunny conditions push out gas and reduce coal use in the national electricity market, even during mid-winter. (Via @OpenNem ) pic.twitter.com/i1DwIDiArU
— @phannam@mastodon.green (@p_hannam) July 16, 2024
According to Geoff Eldridge, an energy analyst for Global Roam, wind generation in NSW reached 2,293MW just after midnight. Prior to this weather event, spurred by a deep low off Tasmania, the previous record for the state was set in April 2024 at 2179MW.
Over the full 24 hours, the average wind generation was 1,914MW, Eldridge said, beating the previous high of 1,863MW set during that cold snap in April last year.
The widespread and powerful winds also meant the grid barely burned any gas in the past day or so, unlike earlier in the winter.
A combination of cold, still days and gas production interruptions at Victoria’s Longford site prompted Aemo to issue a “threat notice” given the pace of the draw down in gas supplies in Victoria and NSW.
The prospect that industries might need to have their gas supplies temporarily cut off to ensure households could keep their heating on has since abated. The return of windier weather that reduced the need for gas-fired power generation has helped.
Still, winter is only halfway over and lengthy periods of cool, calm conditions could return to Australia’s south-east. Aemo has said “deliverability risks” could continue until the end of August if the daily drawdown of gas at Victoria’s main Iona storage site exceeds 200 terajoules a day.
