The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) on June 22 initiated the first step to lift a suspension of its National Electricity Market (NEM), citing a “clear improvement in market conditions.”

The measure comes more than a week since it indefinitely suspended spot markets in all regions of its NEM, given critical power generation supply shortfalls that it had said made it “impossible to continue” operations under national electricity rules. Suspension of the NEM marked a dramatic step for the AEMO, which serves as an independent system operator (ISO) that operates the competitive market serving New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania.

While fuel supplies remain tight, more than 4,000 MW of generation is back online after outages, AEMO said on Wednesday. That paves the way for the operator to initiate a staged approach to lifting the market suspension, said AEMO CEO Daniel Westerman.

“The first step is that at 4 a.m. [on June 23], we will allow the market to set the price again,” Westerman said.…

Read More »