Our Market Operations Weekly Report contains the latest information about the electricity market, including security of supply, wholesale price trends and system capacity.
It is published every Tuesday. Click here to receive the report via email every week.
If you have any comments or questions please contact the Market Operations Team at [email protected].
Latest Report / More Information
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MO Latest Update.pdf
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Current Storage Positions
Security of Supply and Capacity
Energy
National hydro storage dropped from 102% to 99% of the historic mean for this time of year. South Island storage also decreased to 99% of average, while North Island storage fell from 120% to 103% of average.
Capacity
Capacity margins were relatively healthy last week. The lowest residual point of 613 MW was on Wednesday evening. While last week was healthy, forward schedules for the week ahead appear to have some tighter margins. A CAN was sent out for low residual generation the morning peak of 8 May.
Looking at NZGB, there are some days throughout May with low N-1-G margins (less than 200 MW), and a negative margin of -11 MW on 23 May. We recommend that participants consider rescheduling outages to avoid these days and avoid scheduling any further outages that may reduce generation margins. The latest NZGB report is available on the NZGB website.
Electricity Market Commentary
Weekly Demand
Total demand increased by 33 GWh to 782 GWh last week, in line with colder temperatures. Demand peaked at 5,991 MW on the morning of Friday 3 May, up ~340 MW on the week prior.
Weekly Prices
The average wholesale energy price at Otahuhu last week increased to $246/MWh from $227/MWh the week prior, with the price rarely dropping below the $200/MWh mark. Wholesale prices peaked at $572/MWh at Otahuhu on Tuesday morning.
Generation Mix
The renewable percentage of the generation mix dropped a further four points to 82% last week. Hydro generation increased and wind generation decreased by about 40 GWh each (to 58% and 5% of the generation mix respectively), with thermal generation rising to supply the increased demand (to 15% from 11% the week prior).
HVDC
HVDC flows were predominately northward for the last week with overnight periods of southward flow. In total 60 GWh were sent north and 4 GWh were sent south.
Annual Industry Exercise
The Electricity Authority and Transpower are carrying out the second day of its industry exercise of a major power system event on 8 May 2024. This day will be led by the Electricity Authority alongside Transpower's communication team and will test communications and interactions from Transpower out through lines companies to retailers and end consumers.
More information is available on our website.
Draft Security of Supply Assessment 2024 consultation
Transpower, as the system operator, is responsible for publishing the medium-term Security of Supply Assessment (SOSA) annually. This analysis provides a 10-year assessment (2024 to 2033) of the balance between supply and demand in the New Zealand electricity system. The draft 2024 SOSA is now live on the website here for consultation. Please submit any feedback submissions by 4 June 2024.