In making the final Rule determination, the Commission largely adopted NEMMCO’s proposal with some modifications to simplify the Rules applying to intermittent generators to reduce the regulatory and compliance costs on those generators.

Background

On 23 April 2007, the Commission received a Rule change proposal from NEMMCO that primarily seeks to require significant intermittent generators (such as wind farms) to participate in the central dispatch and PASA processes, and limit their output at times when that output would otherwise violate secure network limits. The proposal also included changes to the existing requirements for scheduled and non scheduled generation as a result of the review of the central dispatch and PASA processes to integrate intermittent generators.

On 10 May 2007, the Commission published a notice under section 95 of the National Electricity Law (NEL) commencing initial consultation on a Rule proposal for Central Dispatch and Integration of Wind and Other Intermittent Generation.

The Commission invited interested parties to provide submissions on the Rule change proposal. Submissions closed on 6 July 2007.

On 23 August 2007, the Commission published a notice under section 107 of the National Electricity Law (NEL) extending the period of time for the preparation of the draft determination for the proposed National Electricity Amendment (Central Dispatch and Integration of Wind and Other Intermittent Generation) Rule 2007 by six weeks to 11 October 2007. The Commission made this decision in order to analyse substantive late submissions, to have opportunities to meet with key stakeholders and to consider the complex nature of the issues raised in submissions.

On 4 October 2007, the Commission published a notice under section 107 of the National Electricity Law (NEL) extending the period of time for the preparation of the draft determination for the proposed National Electricity Amendment (Central Dispatch and Integration of Wind and Other Intermittent Generation) Rule 2007 by a further six weeks to 22 November 2007.

The Commission made this decision in order to analyse additional late submissions, to have opportunities to meet with key stakeholders and to consider the complex nature of the issues raised in submissions, including:

• grandfathering of existing arrangements for existing intermittent generators;
• the treatment of aggregated intermittent generating units;
• the extent to which intermittent generators should participate in PASA and be required to re-bid;
• the need to staff a 24 hour per day control room; and
• the arrangements of intermittent generating units that are connected to a distribution network.

On 22 November 2007, the Commission gave notice under section 99 of the NEL of the making of the draft Rule determination and draft Rule on this Rule change proposal.

The draft Rule generally accepts the principles in NEMMCO’s proposed Rule change but with some modifications and enhancements to the implementation of the proposal. The Commission also seeks feedback on a number of policy issues from interested stakeholders that have been identified through the analysis of the NEMMCO proposal and submissions, in particular, the grandfathering provisions.

The Commission invited submissions on this draft Rule determination by 25 January 2008.The Commission also published a mark-up of the Rules incorporating the draft Rule.

On 6 March 2008, the Commission published a notice under section 107 of the National Electricity Law (NEL) to extend the publication of the final Rule determination and Rule to be made for this proposal for six weeks. The Commission considered it necessary to extend the publication of the final Rule determination in order to sufficiently analyse and address complex issues necessary to finalise the final Rule determination and the Rule to be made. The Commission will now publish the final Rule determination and Rule to be made on 17 April 2008.

The Commission made this decision in order to consider the complex nature of the issues raised in submissions, including:

• grandfathering of existing arrangements for existing intermittent generators;
• the treatment of aggregated intermittent generating units; and
• the ability for NEMMCO to instruct a Generator to adjust voltage and reactive power control set points.

On 17 April 2008, the Commission published a notice under section 107 of the National Electricity Law (NEL) to extend the publication of the final Rule determination and Rule to be made for this proposal by a further two weeks. The Commission considered it necessary to extend the publication of the final Rule determination in order to sufficiently analyse and address complex issues necessary to finalise the final Rule determination and the Rule to be made. The Commission will now publish the final Rule determination and Rule to be made on 1 May 2008. The Commission made this decision in order to consider the complex nature of the issues raised in submissions and its analysis.

The Commission gave notice under section 102 of the National Electricity Law (NEL) of its final Rule determination published on 1 May 2008. The Commission also gave notice under section 103 of the NEL of the making of the National Electricity Amendment (Central Dispatch and Integration of Wind and Other Intermittent Generation) Rule 2008 No. 2. Scheduled 1 of the Rule will commence on 1 May 2008, and Scheduled 2 of the Rule will commence on 31 March 2009. In making the final Rule determination, the Commission largely adopted NEMMCO’s proposal with some modifications to simplify the Rules applying to intermittent generators to reduce the regulatory and compliance costs on those generators.

The key elements of the Rule are to:

• require new intermittent generators to register under the new classification of Semi-Scheduled Generator;
• require Semi-Scheduled Generators to participate in the central dispatch process, including submitting offers and limiting their output to below a dispatch level whenever the generation is limited by the central dispatch process; and
• include grandfathering provisions for intermittent generators registered at the date the final Rule determination is published and projects considered committed at 1 January 2008.

The final Rule determination sets out the reasons for the Commission's decision.