The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has made a rule that improves the transparency of a key tool used in monitoring the reliability of the national electricity market.
The rule relates to the calculation of unserved energy and the clarity of the framework that underpins the calculation.
In the national electricity market (NEM), the concept of “unserved energy” is used to measure any supply interruptions that consumers experience from a shortage of generation, demand-side participation or interconnector capacity.
Actual unserved energy, as opposed to forecast unserved energy, is a reporting tool that helps market participants to track the performance of the NEM over time, and after the fact.
The final rule:
- Will make the inputs into and method for calculating unserved energy more transparent, equipping market participants with more information to support improved decision-making
- Will provide improved clarity as to how to interpret the unserved energy definition and what events are or are not included in the backward-looking unserved energy metric, therefore enhancing the integrity of the reliability standard and promoting signals for efficient investment in generation and demand response infrastructure.
- Can be implemented at minimal cost by the Australian Energy Market Operator.
The rule change was submitted by the AEMC’s Reliability Panel off the back of their final report on the Review of Unserved Energy Definition published August 2019. In this review the Reliability Panel concluded that the definition of unserved energy for the purposes of the reliability standard is largely fit for purpose for the existing national electricity market environment.
Media: Kellie Bisset, Media and Content Manager, 0438 490 041 or (02) 8296 7813