Edge News

Our team is dedicated to being across the energy industry. We analyse any changes within the market and evaluate the impact to our clients. Here you will find a range of articles ranging from major industry events through to our detailed views on energy market movements.

21 May Edge presents firming options at the Gas Energy Australia 2018 National Forum

Posted at 16:33h in Energy Markets, Gas, News, Renewables by Edge Admin

Edge presented at the Gas Energy Australia 2018 National Forum which was held on the Gold Coast on 17 and 18 May 2018. The presentation was aimed at showing the opportunities the changes in the current electricity market held for gas producers. As the electricity market continues to adopt more renewable energy, there is an opportunity to firm this energy by supplying power when the relevant renewable source is not operating. With an increasing demand for firmed renewable products this is a perfect time for gas producers to consider power generation in support of the renewable industry. It is possible to partner up and deliver the types of products that consumers...

17 May Edge presents at the GEA 2018 National Forum on the Gold Coast

Posted at 10:11h in Energy Markets, News, Renewables by Edge Admin

Edge has been invited to present at the Gas Energy Australia 2018 National Forum, which is being held over the next two days on the Gold Coast. The forum seeks to provide important insights and new learnings across a range of industry relevant issues including policy, innovation, supply and security of Gas within Australia. Gas Energy Australia is the national peak body which represents the bulk of the downstream gaseous fuels industry which covers Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). The industry comprises major companies and small to medium businesses in the gaseous fuels supply chain – refiners and supplies, fuel marketers, vehicle and...

01 May Federal Opposition commits to 50% renewable by 2030

Posted at 14:31h in Energy Markets, News, Renewables by Nick Clark

Penny Wong, Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman has told an emissions summit today that if elected, Labor’s emission target would be a 45% reduction on 2005 levels. The current target under the Coalition is 26% on 2005 levels. Labor has also committed to a target of 50% of energy to be renewable by 2030. Currently, the Coalition is committed to 23.5% by 2020 through the RET scheme. Senator Wong advised that whilst her party has reservations on the National Energy Guarantee they would build on the Guarantee if possible rather than replace it. The comments from Senator Wong carry significant weight as the potentially large increase in the renewable energy target will require...

26 Apr New Firming Product released to market

Posted at 16:35h in Energy Markets, News, Renewables by Nick Clark

As more and more large energy consumers look to contract directly with renewable generators, and renewable generators seek price certainty, a new product referred to as the “clean energy derivative” has hit the market. In the last few weeks, AGL and ERM have released a somewhat standardised product which is built on generation from a renewable source and then “firmed”. AGL’s “Wind Product Firming Unit” was described as being firmed through physical gas generation whilst also allowing the renewable generator to access the spot market (available in SA and VIC). ERM announced a similar product which is based on generation from solar. These are great initiatives from the retailers who are...

17 Apr Northern Territory Government lifts moratorium on fracking

Posted at 15:12h in Energy Markets, Gas, News by Nick Clark

The Chief Minister of the Northern Terriroty (NT) Michael Gunner has announced that the 135 recommendations made in the recent inquiry into fracking in the NT would be implemented, allowing on-shore fracking to take place in the territory. The 135 recommendations made in the inquiry mitigate the risks associated with onshore gas development to acceptable levels, and in some cases claim to eliminate the risks completely. New gas developments will require environmental management plans which will be assessed by the NT Environment Protection Authority and signed off by the environment minister. There will also be area’s where fracking will not be allowed. These include indigenous protected areas, special environmental areas, cultural and...

12 Apr AEMC sets maximum price for power

Posted at 16:24h in Electricity, Energy Markets, News by Thomas Dargue

The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has released its schedule of reliability settings which outlines the maximum price for electricity for both an individual dispatch interval as well as the maximum cumulative price. The current maximum price of $14,200/MWh will increase to $14,500/MWh and the cumulative price threshold will increase from $212.800 to $216,900. The maximum price sets the highest cost a generator can be paid in any period and consequently what a consumer can be exposed to. It is escalated each year in line with CPI to encourage new peaking plant to enter the market if needed. The cumulative price threshold aggregates the trading intervals over the last seven days. If they...

29 Mar Nearly 30 million certificates to be surrendered to meet small scale renewable energy scheme obligations

Posted at 16:04h in Energy Markets, Gas, News by Nick Clark

The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) announced earlier today, the 2018 small-scale technology percentage (STP) as 17.08%. This means that liable entities (mainly electricity retailers) are required to surrender to the CER approximately 29.3 million STCs to meet their small scale renewable energy scheme obligations for 2018. This figure is derived by adding 7.2 million STCs to the estimated 22.1 million supply of STCs in 2018 (see below for how this is determined). The 7.2 million STC adjustment is the difference between previous years’ STC creations and the actual number of STCs surrendered in those years. Last year the STP was 7.01%, therefore this year is an increase of 10.07%. The uplift...

28 Mar Northern Territory Hydraulic Fracturing

Posted at 16:25h in Energy Markets, Gas, News by Nick Clark

After 15 months, 151 public hearings, 31 community updates and 1,257 submissions, Justice Rachel Pepper has presented the independent Scientific Inquiry into Hydraulic Fracturing of Onshore Unconventional Reservoirs to the Northern Territory Government. The inquiry makes 135 recommendations which mitigate the risks associated with onshore shale gas development to acceptable levels, and in some cases, eliminate the risks completely. The report clearly states that it is necessary for all the recommendations to be actioned in order for the risks to be reduced to acceptable levels. The final report builds on the recommendations made in the Draft Final Report by including: an implementation Chapter, which states clearly that all of the recommendations...

28 Mar Softer forward electricity prices recorded on the Australian Stock Exchange

Posted at 15:09h in Electricity, Energy Markets, News by Nick Clark

Quarterly forward contracts from Q118 to Q219 declined across all mainland regions in the National Electricity Market (NEM) yesterday. The largest decline was in the illiquid South Australian market where Q219 prices dropped by $9.75/MWh. Queensland contracts are currently the most affordable which is driven by the surplus of firm capacity in the region and a direction from the Queensland Government last year to Stanwell Corporation to lower wholesale prices. New South Wales contract prices have declined since the beginning of 2018 driven by lower than expected spot price outcomes in the region. Snowy Hydro corporation have been instrumental in reducing volatility in the region aggressively defending the $300.00/MWh cap...

28 Mar Concentrated Solar Thermal and the National Energy Guarantee

Posted at 10:08h in News by Nick Clark

ARENA has released their public summary of the Request For Information (RFI) on Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) projects. The RFI process was designed to examine the potential for a possible program supporting the deployment of CST systems in Australia. There were 31 respondents to the RFI. Respondents ranged from the most experienced in the world to relatively junior Australian companies. There were a couple of key takeaways from the exercise which included: - That dispatchable and flexible generation coupled with synchronous generation was beneficial; - Cost discovery was limited as pricing is commercially sensitive in nature. More junior developers offered low pricing; - There are a number of regulatory, commercial and technical challenges...