AEMO activates RERT
On Tuesday, 01 February 2022, AEMO activated reserves in QLD under the Reliability and Emergency Reserve Trader (RERT) program (a first for the summer of ‘22). AEMO activated a total of 331 MWs in QLD for 4.5 hours.
When there is a lack of supply in any given state, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) may activate the RERT mechanism to maintain power system reliability and system security using reserve contracts. AEMO enters arrangements with large business users under which those customers agree to reduce their demand during critical times. These ‘RERT participants’ become eligible based on their energy demand and ability to reliably flex their operations during critical times of peak-demand. Most of these businesses opt to participate in the RERT program via an intermediary, such as Origin Zero.
Helping restore balance in power supply and demand
During this RERT event, we successfully engaged a participant to dispatch reserve capacity in Queensland. Throughout the process, our team communicated seamlessly with the customer to inform them of market notices, changes to weather and grid conditions, and passed on regular updates on the likelihood of a RERT event and potential event duration.
Participating customers can benefit through helping support the local energy market from prolonged high prices and outages. Upon participation in a RERT event, they receive a significant payment and a reduction in direction charges proportionate to their participation. The RERT program is an extremely important mechanism to ensure system security and stability in Australia and it’s for this reason that large consumers are compensated for doing their bit during periods where the balance of supply and demand is low.
Customer powers down, earns in excess of half a million dollars in RERT payments
During the RERT event in February, our customer delivered a significant percentage of the reserve activated by AEMO. They were compensated accordingly for powering down for just 4.5 hours (i.e. the complete duration of the RERT event) whilst playing a vital role in providing stability and security to the QLD electricity grid.
RERT compensation on your bill
To get started, and understand the value you can unlock, chat to the Origin Zero team today!
